


How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps

by Sharpshoot_er (Latina_SpaceCadet)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Sex, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sex, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, Galtean AU, Gratuitous Consent, Half-Galra!Keith, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Past Rape/Non-con, Rimming, Semi-Slow Burn, altean!lance, bottom!Keith, top!lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:40:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 61,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latina_SpaceCadet/pseuds/Sharpshoot_er
Summary: The Empire of Altea rules the universe in this world, where for thousands of years, the Galra race has served as companions to the Alteans—the cat-like creatures cannot survive without quintessence to sustain them. Enter Lance, the crown prince of the Empire. He’s never understood the need to have what he calls “pets”, but his sister Allura is determined to get him a Galra companion anyway. She drags him to an auction where Lance sees the only Galra he’s ever wanted—and he’s not even completely Galra. Keith is a hybrid: half Galra, half Terran, and all fiery spirit. Lance buys him without a second thought, urged on by his misbehaving quintessence, and his sister gives him a helpful book: How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps. However, Keith is nothing like anything Lance has ever encountered before—and it’s up to Lance to help him forget the cruelties he’s faced since being sold as a child. Almost immediately, Lance finds himself falling hard for the headstrong halfbreed. How will the prince and the hybrid deal with their immediately intense feelings for each other, especially when there are physical as well as mental complications to their relationship?
Relationships: Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1: Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first work for the VLD fandom, and I am super excited to finally be posting it. 
> 
> I used to write Supernatural fics, but the fandom became so toxic that I ended up orphaning my works. I know all too well that the Voltron fandom can be toxic as well, which is why I decided to wait until the show was completely over and done before I began posting this work.
> 
> Please understand that I started writing this back in 2016 when Voltron first came out and the clusterfuck that was the final few seasons of the show hadn't happened yet. Lance and Allura are brother and sister in this work, so if that bothers you, please close the tab and leave. There are graphic depictions and mentions of rape in this work, so if that's a trigger for you, please leave. In this work, Keith is a survivor of rape, so it will be brought up often. This fic also contains graphic violence and will eventually contain graphic sex scenes, so if that triggers or offends you, please leave now.
> 
> I'm going to warn you in advance--this work will not update often. I'll likely only be able to update every two months, but as each chapter of this work ranges from 10k-20k words, I feel like every other month is a perfectly fine schedule to release new chapters, as it takes me a while to write them. I feel bad about this, as I'm an avid fic reader myself and I hate waiting for updates, but inspiration is a flighty thing, and I can't write as fast or as quickly as I wish I could.
> 
> With all that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this work! It's pretty much been my pet project for the last few years, and I'm pretty proud of it. I hope you all have fun reading this! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron, and I do NOT consent to my work being shared on other sites or apps.

**How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps!**

**Chapter One: Introduction**

Hello there, and welcome to _How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps!_ Chances are you've picked up this book with the intention to adopt your very own Galra companion, and we’re here to help you along that journey! Now, before you go charging into anything, let’s learn a little bit about our furry purple friends.

The Galra were discovered on a distant planet by Altean explorers thirty thousand years ago, when King Alfor first began his rule. It was discovered that their race was endangered due to their dependence on their home planet for quintessence, which had led to the planet’s untimely death. The explorers shared some of their quintessence with the leader of the Galra, who begged them to save his race. The explorers brought the entire tribe to King Alfor, who decreed that they be designated as companions for Alteans, a symbiotic relationship that allowed the Galra to live in peace with the Alteans by depending on them for quintessence in exchange for their artisan craftmanship skills, with the freedom to leave whenever they felt. For Galra who did not wish to become companions, Alfor discovered and dedicated a planet to them. With the help of his brother-in-law Coran, they developed quintessence-producing flora and fauna to populate the planet in order to ensure that the Galra’s quintessence supply would never run out.

Thus began the tradition of adopting a Galra companion into the everyday Altean home, and that’s where we’ll begin this process!

First off all, you’ll need to know about obtaining a Galra companion. Most of the time, companions are chosen in a similar way as life mates. You may meet them at a bar and feel a connection, or you might be introduced by friends, or by a friend's companion. There are also computer systems for arranging matches between Alteans and Galra, where the two will meet in a neutral location and get to know each other before deciding whether to become companions. As a last resort, there are the auctions. A leftover tradition from when Galra were still (unfortunately!) considered more a pet or a servant than a companion, the auctions are a method of last resort for the Alteans who have not been able to find a companion, and for the Galra who cannot find, for lack of a better word, a Master. This book will focus on auctions, as we feel it’s important to inform Alteans of the special circumstances that abused Galra from auctions may need in order to settle into life as a companion.

There are auctions all around the planet, but the most reputable ones will have a lion symbol on their data set. It will also be painted around the building. These auctions are safe and do not mistreat their Galra. There is an application process for the Galra participating in these auctions, as they have to be verified as needing a last resort—that is, the need to be auctioned in order to become a companion. However, beware of disreputable auctions! Though they may seem safe, there will be many red flags alerting you to nefarious practices happening! Many will parade their Galra around naked and beat them to decrease resistance. This is not an acceptable practice, and if you notice it happening, please report it to the authorities!

Now, back to the auction process. The auctioneer will list the personality traits and skills that the Galra on the stage posesses, and then he will open up bidding. Once you win, you will be escorted to a private room where you and your new companion will be allowed to bond.

That leads us to our next step: Bonding! Bonds are like invisible strings that connect you and your new Galra companion, and they’re very important!

When you first meet your Galra, you’ll need to give them some of your quintessence to create the bond. We would suggest collecting your saliva, blood, or a reproductive emission in a small bottle and mixing it with water to give to your new Galra to drink. Of course, you can always feed them the old-fashioned way, but for scared rescue Galra, the water bottle method is the best and safest way to ensure a bond forms to make your companion compatible with your quintessence. This will hopefully lead to a long, happy bond with your new friend!

That concludes our introduction chapter. Please be mindful when purchasing your companion, as some Galra are temperamental and wish to be released immediately upon purchase. It’s a sad loss, but you must let them go, as they are not pets—they are companions! Good luck, and please refer back to this book the day after you obtain your new Galra!

* * *

The royal family of the Altean Empire was an incredible bunch, according to those who had met them in the time since the beginning of King Alfor’s reign (and a few of those who hadn’t).

The monarch of the family was King Alfor, a wise, experienced leader. He had created the Peaceful Universe Alliance with the warmongering Klaak, who had been threatening Altea for millennium. His brother-in-law, Prince Coran, had successfully commanded the Balmera Restoration Project, and had singlehandedly resurrected ten thousand Balmeras with his Altean quintessence. Princess Allura, Alfor’s only daughter, had spearheaded a Galra Freedom movement, fighting against Galra abuse and working to shut down the Galra slave trade and their disreputable auctions. She’d done more work for the Galra race in a thousand years than had been done in ten times that.

Prince Leandro, or as he preferred to be called, Lance, was the second child of the dynasty, and second in line for the throne. Even so, he had plenty of his own accomplishments—he’d created Team Voltron, an elite team of dragon riders inspired by the blue dragon he’d adopted as a child. There was his own dragon, Blue; the black dragon, ridden by Allura’s Terran companion, Shiro; the green dragon, ridden by Pidge, Shiro’s adoptive little sister; and the yellow dragon, ridden by Shiro’s adoptive brother, Hunk. They’d reclaimed multiple planets from rebellious Klaak sects after the Alliance was formed, and the team had even helped to set up a planet for Galra who wished to live free.

However, Lance was strange in the fact that he was the only member of the Altean royal family to never have adopted a Galra. It was quite the hot topic amongst the lower factions of Altea, and the gossip originating from his election to not adopt a Galra had circled back to even his esteemed father’s pointed royal ears.

* * *

Lance groaned, head tipping back into the back of his dining room chair as his father and sister, sitting across the table from him, droned on about his lack of a companion.

“Lance, you cannot go on like this! You have a reputation to uphold! Your decision to remain without a companion is suggesting to some of the most radical Galra freedom groups that you believe Galra companionship is wrong, and it’s causing unrest in many of the factions!” his sister lamented. “You know I’m the last person to be asking you this, since I think some of those auctions are simply barbaric, but I must ask! When will you finally adopt a Galra?”

“When you stop putting this shit on my bed thinking it’ll convince me,” Lance answered in a bored voice as he chucked the book he’d found on his pillow that evening at her head.

“This book is extremely helpful! I used it when I adopted my first Galra,” Coran said, snatching the book out of the air before it hit his niece in the face. “ _How to Train Your Galra in 5 Easy Steps_ saved my rear many a time! Plus, it has been repeatedly revised to stay with the times and status of the Galra.”

“Uncle, they revised the name to be less...offensive. It’s now known as _How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps_ , remember?”

“Ah yes, I always forget about that! I apologize for my slip-up.”

“It would be wise to adopt a companion, son,” King Alfor advised, sounding extremely tired. "Your sister is right--the extreme factions are getting restless, and it's only a matter of time before they make a move."

Lance sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you people that I don’t want to? I don’t need a slave attending to my every need, especially not the occasional need to fuck. I won’t take someone’s freedom away like that. Why are you all so eager to get me a pet?”

“They are not pets!” Allura shouted, getting out of her chair and grabbing her brother by his pointed ear, ignoring his pained protests. “And they are not slaves to ‘fuck’, as you so crudely put it, whenever you feel like! They are companions, and you and I both know there are more ways to feed a Galra than to have sex with it. This will be good for you. Maybe you’ll finally learn some responsibility!”

“Responsibility? I don’t want to hear about responsibility! You went and made Shiro and his siblings immortal because you couldn’t stand losing your precious Terran friends! Have you even seen the shit their race does to its planet on a daily basis?” Lance argued.

“They’re your friends too, Lance! And at least Shiro is responsible enough to acknowledge his race’s shortcomings! All you do is loaf around the castle and ride dragons for fun,” Allura hissed. “What do you know of responsibility?”

“ENOUGH!” King Alfor roared. “Why must you fight like this?”

“Because Lance is selfish, Father, and until he adopts a Galra to be responsible for, he will continue to cause unrest among the anti-Galra factions. Not that he cares,” Allura said coldly, pinching Lance’s ear tighter.

“Responsibility. There’s that damn word again. I’m plenty responsible, Allura. And I know how to take the blame for things. You certainly weren’t the reason Mom died,” Lance said, biting out the words angrily, his eyes and cheek marks glowing with quintessence as his anger manifested itself.

Allura gasped, startled, and let go of the prince’s ear. “Lance, you know full well that wasn’t your fault!”

“Wasn’t it?” Lance asked. “Did she or did she not die almost immediately after I, not you, was born?”

“That is quite enough,” Coran interrupted, sounding more serious than the siblings had heard him in a long time. “My sister knew exactly what she was getting into when she married despite her reproductive issues. You would do well to remember that.”

“I’m tired of all this arguing, especially when it involves your mother,” Alfor said, sighing. “Lance, you will accompany Allura to a Galra auction tomorrow, and you will not leave without adopting a companion. Allura, your brother is free to make his own choices about what he does with his companion. Let him have that freedom. If he lets them go, you cannot interfere.”

Allura slumped, backing away from Lance’s chair. “Of course, Father. Lance, go to bed. I will see you in the morning.” She walked out of the room, slamming the door and leaving the three men of the Altean royal family in an awkward silence.

“I’ll go spit in a bottle,” Lance said glumly after a while, relieving the pressure in the room.

“I would suggest doing that in the morning before you leave. Your quintessence will be more potent that way,” Coran said, raising his lecturing finger. “And actually, I believe you should use the other method of quintessence release.”

“Manifestation?” Lance asked, his eyes glowing cerulean as an apple-sized ball of blue light appeared in his palm.

“Lord, no! You’d fry the poor thing’s receptors with that strange talent of yours. No, I suggest you… Alfor, help me out,” Coran pleaded.

“Stimulate yourself to the point of release and put the emission in the bottle,” King Alfor said, his tan skin turning a bright red from having to say something so crude to his son.

Lance sputtered, the light in his hand flickering out as he struggled to breathe. “You want me to jack off into a bottle? For my future pet to drink? Dad, that’s disgusting!”

“For a commoner, maybe. As you are part of the royal family, your emissions are pure quintessence. Your reproductive system produces pure light,” Coran reminded the prince, “and they won’t be a pet, they’ll be a companion. Learn the difference before the auction tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, Uncle Coran,” Lance muttered. “Fine. I’ll go grab a bottle from the kitchen and jack off into it in the morning. Am I excused?”

“Yes,” Alfor said. “Do not try to get out of this. You _will_ adopt a companion before the end of this week.”

“Sure thing, Dad.” With that, Lance left the room.

“Think he’ll accept this?” Coran asked.

“No. He’ll probably settle for a companion he hates, and then ask it to leave. I wouldn’t be surprised if the arrangement lasts for less than a month,” Alfor admitted.

“Nor would I. I suppose we’ll see how it turns out.”

The king sighed, gazing at the door his son had slammed. “He’s in a bad mood today because of this. He’s never that adamant.”

“He does not believe that the companion relationship is a beneficial one, Alfor. He’ll come around once he meets the perfect Galra. I just hope he doesn’t chase them off before they can convince him to keep them. ”

* * *

“Who the quiznaking quiznak do they think they are? Ordering me to buy a Galra just like that! I keep telling them I don’t need one, but they never listen!” Lance ranted, pacing a hole in his floor.

Pidge and Hunk watched him amusedly from the relative safety of the couch. He’d called them to his quarters almost immediately after his meeting with his family, and when they’d arrived, plopped them forcefully down onto the couch and proceeded to have a full-on crisis, which culminated in the epic rant he’d just finished.

“Lance, as much as I want to say otherwise, why don’t you just go tomorrow? It could prove to be a good deal in the end, especially if you find a Galra you like,” Pidge suggested.

“I agree,” Hunk said, staring at the prince. His sister nudged him, and he poked her back. “What? I’m not going to fight either of you on this. I think it’s a good idea for him to go!”

“Guys, a little help here? I need to figure out how to get out of this!” Lance exclaimed.

“Lance, you and I both know there is no way Allura is going to let you off on this. Seriously, just go to the auction and see if there’s one you like, even a tiny bit. If there is, bring it home and tell it that it can leave,” Pidge said, scratching her scalp and squinting at her friend through her glasses. “It would get the point across to the anti-companionship factions that you have officially adopted a Galra. It’ll also get it into their thick heads that rescuing and/or adopting Galra from the auctions is acceptable, whether or not you choose to keep them or send them away.”

Lance sighed, coming to a stop in the middle of the room. His arms came up to hug himself as he shuddered.

“Pidge, you’re making good points, but... I don’t know, I just-I-I hate those auctions. They’re in smelly, dark rooms, and the eyes of the Galra are always…dead, like they’ve lost all hope. The one Allura is taking me to tomorrow is one of the worst. She sent me the contact info, and it’s the shadiest one around. I’m guessing that my family figures that I plan to adopt and dump, so they’re not going to waste a lot of money on a Galra that won’t even spend a month in the castle,” Lance admitted.

“I’d still go. You said those auctions are terrible, so why don’t you save a Galra or two from it? I know Allura will go for the one that looks the most ragged, so you’ll be purchasing from them anyway. Just find one you like and adopt it,” Hunk advised.

“But what if I—“

“No buts Lance, seriously. We’ve been here for almost an hour. Get your ass to bed and go to that auction in the morning. There’s nothing more you can say to make us help you get out of it,” Pidge scolded.

“Fine,” Lance said, moping. “Get out of my room.”

“Uh-uh, what are the magic words?” Pidge asked, glaring at him from below.

“Thanks for all your extremely unhelpful advice?”

“Perfect. Night!”

“Night Lance!” Hunk called as he and his sister walked out the door.

“Night,” Lance replied quietly. He flopped into bed, staring at the star map on his ceiling as he pondered the events of tomorrow.

He didn’t condone the Galra companionship, as much as Allura tried to tell him it wasn’t slavery. Voltron had helped set up another refuge planet for the specific reason of independent Galra, and last he’d heard a week ago, the fuzzy purple inhabitants were doing just fine. They didn’t need the Alteans to survive.

Lance rolled onto his side, stomach beginning to react to the gruesome images in his memory of auctions. The scars on the fur of the naked Galra being paraded across the stage, the looks on their faces as they stood, unclothed and completely vulnerable, in front of thousands of drooling perverts… It made him more nauseous than Coran’s horrid Nunvill. Allura had shut the auction at the source of his nightmares down, thankfully, but Lance knew full well that Galra abuse, most of it much worse than what he’d witnessed, happened all the time.

Sighing, he turned over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow, trying hard to forget about the things he’d witnessed in his seven thousand years on this planet and others. His quintessence swirled reassuringly inside him, sending calming thoughts to soothe his overthinking.

It had always done that for him. When he was feeling sad, his quintessence brought up happy memories of his childhood, of juniberry fields and his sister and laughter. When he was angry, it soothed him with visions of the ocean, his favorite place to be. No one else in the royal family had ever experienced this before, and Lance figured it had something to do with his… nontraditional baptism.

Lance huffed a sad laugh into the pillow. The fight about his and Allura’s mother had brought back some painful memories. His quintessence helpfully replayed the small amount of memories of his mother he had before she’d passed away, and Lance fell into a fitful sleep, his brain ever-so-helpfully projecting all of the things that could possibly go wrong tomorrow...in Technicolor.

* * *

“Lance, it’s time to get ready for the auction,” Allura’s soft voice sounded from the slightly cracked door.

Lance awoke with a start, a groan escaping his lips as he turned in the opposite direction from the light of the hallway seeping into his room. “Go away.”

“You promised Father you would go. It’s nearly time for us to leave. Please just get up, I don’t want to fight today.”

“Fine,” Lance groused, echoing his outburst from yesterday as he sat up and stretched. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

After cleaning his teeth, brushing his hair, and dressing in some nondescript clothing, Lance exited his room to find Allura’s companion standing watch outside his door.

“Let me guess, you had orders to forcibly remove me from my bed if I chose not to get up?”

“Correct,” Shiro replied. “But I had faith that you would get yourself up.”

“Yeah, yeah, Space Dad. Just because Allura gave you immortality doesn’t mean you need to act all old and wise. I was a century from seven thousand when you were born,” Lance grumbled. “Is the hovercar ready out front?”

“Of course. Your sister wouldn’t forget your favorite method of transportation on a day when you were most reluctant to travel,” Shiro said.

“Blue is my favorite method of transportation, actually,” Lance snarked, starting the journey through the halls to the front doors.

“As is Black, for me. However, it wouldn’t be a very good idea to fly giant, scaly dragons through the suburbs of Altea Prime.”

Lance sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s get this over with as fast as possible.”

“You know,” Shiro said, “you might surprise yourself and find the perfect companion.”

“At a shitty, immoral auction like this? Not likely. Look, can you skip the lecture about the importance of a good companion? I’ve been hearing those words for seven thousand years now. I think I know by now what to look for.”

“And that is?”

“A fuzzy feeling in my chest and a push from my quintessence,” Lance recited as if reading from a textbook as he followed his sister’s companion through the halls of the palace.

“Exactly. Your new companion will feel it too—I felt my bond with Allura long before we even touched. Yours will feel it especially strongly, considering your formidable quintessence.”

“Allura’s is just as strong. I’ve always been surprised that you’re so compatible, considering you’re Terran.”

Shiro gestured to his prosthetic arm. “See this? It’s Galra tech, from a couple of companions with an artisan background. It’s hooked up to my bloodstream and requires quintessence in order to remain compatible with my body.”

“I know that already, I’ve helped repair it enough. It’s just weird that Pidge and Hunk are fine without any extra limbs or Galra tech. I’ve never really understood that.”

“Terrans are one of the most sensitive races to quintessence next to the Galra, but they don’t depend on it,” Shiro explained, opening the front doors. “That’s how Pidge and Hunk are compatible with Allura as well, and it’s how she was able to make them immortal. She feeds them through transfusion.”

“I see. I already know how she feeds you, so spare me the details, please. That’s one more thing I don’t need to deal with this morning,” Lance grumbled, opening the doors of the castle and walking down to his hovercar.

Shiro blushed. Lance sighed.

“Gross. I’ll see you on the other side,” Lance said, saluting his friend as he lowered himself into the hovercar.

Shiro coughed, recovering his dignity. “Not likely. I’ve also been ordered to accompany you in the vehicle to make sure you don’t throw yourself from the window the minute it leaves my sight.”

“Oh, man!”

* * *

When they arrived at the warehouse that would be housing today’s auction, Lance swore loudly. “Fuck! I forgot to jack off in a bottle!”

“Language. And you don’t have to put it so crudely. Here, use this disposable water bottle and excuse yourself to the bathroom once we get inside. Be quick, we don’t need the organizers getting suspicious,” Shiro said, handing Lance the small container from the cooler in the car.

“Hell no, I’m not doing that in public. I’ll just do this,” Lance responded, holding his hand out and closing his eyes. A ball of quintessence appeared, hovering lightly in his palm before the light began to visibly draw out of it, flowing back into the prince’s hand. The ball grew smaller and smaller until it was no larger than a marble. The prince dropped it in the bottle, swirling it around in the water until the liquid glowed blue. “There. Will that work? Was that ‘effective”—enter air quotes from the prince—“enough for you?”

“Of course,” Shiro replied. “I’d be a little bit scandalized if you used the other method in front of me.”

“No you wouldn’t. Now can we get this over with?” Lance asked, opening the car door to find his sister standing in front of it, a scowl on her face.

“Stop teasing my companion, Lance. You know how nervous he gets before auctions,” Allura reprimanded, her striking features concealed by an alterer and her pristine white hair now a muted blonde.

“He’s fine! I’m the one that’s nervous. Do you have a spare facial alterer? We can’t risk anyone here seeing me.”

The prince’s face was all over the empire on various posters, murals, and even plushes, of course, considering the people of the galaxies idolized him. It wasn’t exactly like he could get away with anything less than a full facial altering before leaving the palace, but having been so nervous, he had totally forgotten to bring one. His hair was still its usual snowy white as well. Allura had thought ahead, however. She stepped forward, pressing a small device against his temple. Immediately, Lance felt the small membrane of a facial altering mask press up close to his face, concealing his features with that of a plain commoner. Allura also ran her fingers through his hair, quintessence making his scalp tingle as she changed his hair color to a dark brown.

“There. The hair color will disappear when you remove your alterer.”

“Thanks, sis. It was getting hard to keep the ladies off of me,” Lance said, an attempt to lighten the dread in the pit of his stomach.

Allura rolled her eyes, pressing another alterer to the temple of her companion before turning to walk into the building. Shiro followed her, glancing back at the prince. “Coming?”

Lance took a deep breath, his nerves beginning to make themselves known with a vengeance. Clutching the water bottle in his hand tight enough to make his knuckles go white, he forced a smile.

“Yep! Be right there!” He slipped it into his large sleeves, making sure to cast a small veil of quintessence over it to disguise the glowing.

They walked into the building and Lance immediately had to stop himself from hunching over, his breathing speeding up. Despair, dread, sorrow, and fear clouded the air, settling heavy on his lungs.

“Allura.”

“I feel it too,” his sister said, covering her nose. “Last night, when I was doing research on this place, I went ahead and contacted Father’s security forces. They’ll be shutting this place down as soon as we’re done.”

“Why not shut it down now?” Lance asked, following her towards the check-in station.

“Because this is the only auction on Altea Prime this week, and it’s the closest one to the castle for a month. Father said you had to get a companion by the end of the week, didn’t he? This was the easiest way,” Allura replied, though she didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“Just…make sure it gets shut down, ok? Quiznak, I don’t see the Lion symbol anywhere.”

“Language,” Shiro said. “And that’s why we’re wearing alterers.”

The group filed into a line, Allura grabbing a roll of money from her pocket as they approached the bouncer. She slipped the roll into his hand, gesturing towards the smaller door to the side that no one had entered through yet.

The bouncer grunted, taking the money and opening the door. After nodding congenially to the large man, Allura led her companion and brother up a small flight of stairs into a glass viewing box. Comfortable upholstered chairs sat at the middle of the little room, the glass allowing a panoramic view of the main auction room below them, which was was nearly full to capacity. Most of the occupants seated in the auditorium-style chairs around the stage wore hoods or masks to conceal their identity, much like the trio in the box were.

“I was going to seat us in the auction room, but I saw some of the men in the line and decided to bring us up here. Some of the chairs down there get…soiled by some of the more unhinged customers,” Allura explained.

Lance took a deep breath, feeling both grateful for his sister’s quick thinking and nauseous at the thought of what went on in those guys’ heads. Shiro slipped him a small tablet.

“Thanks,” the prince whispered, putting the pill into his mouth and swallowing it dry. Immediately, the nausea and nervousness began to abate. As the worst of it went away, the lights turned on to reveal a large stage with a podium. A tall, one-eyed Galra stood behind it, smirking evilly. His right eye had been replaced with a cybernetic monocle, a long, fresh-looking scar vertically intersecting with it.

“Welcome, all, to the Galra auction of the century! My name is Sendak, and I’ll be your host for today!”

Allura clamped onto the edge of her seat, her knuckles white. “Sendak?! I’ve been trying to catch that bastard for ages!”

“Sendak? Who’s he?” Lance asked.

“He’s a Galra who sells other Galra, the worst of the worst,” Allura said. “I would love to get my hands on that monster’s furry neck. He’s the only Galra I’ve ever hated.”

“Calm down,” Shiro said, rubbing her shoulder. “We can’t afford to blow our cover before your father can fully mobilize his soldiers outside. They need to be able to seal off the escape tunnels.”

“Hey, hey, don’t we want to hide that we’re doing this?” Lance asked, looking around worriedly. “There could be bugs in here.”

“Even if there are, all they’re recording is some pleasant music. Shiro’s arm has a disruptor.”

“Cool.” A notice popped up on his wristband. “Oh, hey, speaking of disruptions, there’s a solar flare today. Tell the army to time the explosions with the flare so that they’ll think the rumbling is just from the sun.” The prince cocked his head to the side, confused at how fast he’d come up with that idea. “What the hell was in that pill you gave me, Shiro?”

“No matter. It was good thinking, Lance,” Allura replied, pulling her sleeve back and hitting a small button on her wristband before speaking into it. “Tell them to time the escape tunnel explosions with the solar flare vibrations.”

“Hey, it’s… it’s starting,” Lance said, staring down at the stage as the first Galra was brought before the crowd.

His worst suspicions were confirmed—the Galra was naked, his fur burned in some places and shaved in others, purple skin marred by ugly scars. Shiro gasped as Allura let out a choked sound.

“This is Ulaz! As you can see, he had quite the spirit before we beat it out of him,” Sendak said, smirking. “Now, he’s quite docile—especially in bed! He’s great at lying there and taking it, though it doesn’t take much to get noises out of him! He can also cook and clean in whatever outfit you want him to! Bidding starts at 3,000, but before I can begin, let’s talk more about Ulaz here first!”

Sendak continued, but the three occupants of the box weren’t listening.

“Allura, your quintessence is stretched too thin with Hunk, Pidge and I. You can’t adopt this one, no matter how bad you feel for him!” Shiro protested, trying to talk Allura out of hitting the red button to her left that meant a bid from the box.

“I know. I know that, but I cannot just let him suffer, Takashi. Please, I have to help him.”

“Uncle Coran could take another Galra. His last one left to help with the planet that Team Voltron set up. Bid on this one and we’ll bring him to Coran,” Lance suggested.

“How can we do that without Coran’s quintessence?” Shiro asked.

“Uncle always sends me with a small vial before I leave for an auction just in case there’s one I need to save that I cannot afford to. Usually, I have a friend that could take in a Galra, but this one will go to Coran,” Allura said, hitting the button.

“We have a bid from the box for 3,000! Will anyone dare to challenge that bid?” Sendak asked, smirking at the audience. No one raised their hand.

“That’s going once…twice…sold, to the box! Someone will come get you after the auction and lead you to the special room we put our Galra in after our most valued guests purchase one. Any others you deem to purchase will be placed in that room as well!” Sendak shouted up at them.

“He can’t see us, right?” Lance asked.

“No. This glass is one-way. Boxes like this are often reserved for the highest bidders or bribers, usually upper-class Alteans who illegally breed Galra for slavery. The glass is designed to help them remain completely anonymous, even if they use alterers. The guides they send are usually sentries with no video recording capabilities,” Allura explained. “Though they usually bug the boxes for blackmail purposes if someone decides to back out of a deal.”

“How do you know all of this?” Lance asked.

“It’s my job, Lance. I come to these auctions at least once a month.”

“The next one is out,” Shiro observed, speaking gently.

The auction continued in much the same way—a Galra was paraded out onto stage, completely naked, and Sendak railed off their “perks” as the audience began to get more rowdy, some of them even asking to test the goods right then and there.

The occupants of the box were silent for the most part, though Allura would pipe up every now and then to comment on the state of one of the Galra on the stage. Nearly all the way through the auction, Shiro spoke up.

“Have you felt it? Anything at all?” Shiro asked.

“I feel…something,” Lance replied, and it was true. For a while now, he’d felt a small buzz in his stomach where his quintessence liked to gather, but it hadn’t formed into anything more than a light feeling yet. “I’m not sure what it is.”

The answer came at the end of the auction, when it seemed that all the Galra had been led across the stage. There hadn’t been much activity for a few minutes, so the trio was getting ready to leave when the lights suddenly dimmed.

“And now, ladies, gentlemen, and deplorable folk of all races! Please welcome to the stage, our rarest item of the evening—a Terran-Galran hybrid!”

The crowd roared and Shiro stared, dumbfounded, at the stage as the lights went nearly all the way out.

“Is that biologically possible?” Lance hissed.

“I—I’m not sure,” Allura replied, staring wide-eyed as well. “I suppose it could be, since they’re both quintessence-compatible. Quiznak, what does it look like?”

A figure was led, struggling, onto the stage in the near-dark. The auction workers chained it to the stage, and Lance winced as the lights came up to reveal the mysterious hybrid.

Immediately, that feeling in Lance’s stomach came back with a vengeance. He gasped, clutching his abdomen and curling into himself. Shiro and Allura looked at him concernedly.

“Are you going to throw up?”

“That’s him,” Lance gasped, eyes glowing blue through the alterer. “That’s my companion.”

The occupants of the box stared at the teenage boy on the stage. Pitch-black hair fell, matted and grimy, against a slim, pale neck that expanded to a pale-skinned, completely naked body. The hybrid was lithe but strong, the muscles in his arms and legs straining as he pulled on his restraints. The boy was muzzled but not silent, grunting muffled obscenities through the metal bit. Fire burned in his violet eyes, which were pointed towards the box as he struggled against his chains.

“He senses it too,” Shiro said. “Allura, hit the button.”

She did, too shocked by her brother’s reaction to protest.

“A bid from the box already? I haven’t even read off his perks!” Sendak fake-protested. “As you can see, this one is a resister! We’ve got him muzzled because he just loves to bite. He puts up quite a fight in bed, but once you get him turned on, he sweetens up real nice. Careful—he’s a screamer, a biter, and a scratcher, so be prepared to put ointment on your back every time you feed him! Because he’s a hybrid, he can eat solid food _and_ quintessence, and he needs less of both than a full-breed of either race would.”

“Fucking _liar_ ,” Lance hissed, still clutching his stomach. “They’ve been starving him. I can sense it.”

Allura and Shiro looked at each other, concerned, as the glass of the box began to vibrate slightly. Thankfully, the audience was too preoccupied with the hybrid on the stage to notice, and since all the lights were pointed toward the stage, Sendak most likely couldn’t see it either.

“Lance,” Allura began, keeping her voice steady, “a bond that allows the master to feel the companion’s physical and emotional state usually doesn’t take hold until after the Galra has been fed. Are you sure you’re feeling what he is?”

“Yes! I’m positive. Look, trust me on this one, ok? I can see his ribs and I can feel his anger and pain. It probably has something to do with my weird quintessence, but please, I need to adopt this hybrid. It’s getting physically painful to not be touching him,” Lance said through gritted teeth.

“Alright, alright. Sendak has started the bidding.”

“We’ll start at a nice, comfy hundred thousand for this one,” Sendak said, smirking. “However, the box has already taken that bid, so would anyone like to go from there?”

To Lance’s dismay, nearly half of the hands in the packed room went up.

“Allura. Hit the button again.”

Before long, the bidding was up to 2,500,000 and Lance was getting more and more restless. The amount had scared off most of the other bidders long ago, but there was one ridiculously persistent one in the front row that Lance had to physically restrain himself from jumping from the box and stabbing. The man was panting, an open leer on his face. His pants were wide open, one hand on his penis as he openly pleasured himself to the hybrid’s naked body. The other remained constantly in the air to bid.

“Bid five million,” Lance said.

“What?!” Shiro and Allura both yelled.

“Did I fucking stutter? Bid. Five. Million. I will **not** let that jackass with his dick out in the front row get what’s mine,” Lance growled, eyes glowing bright blue.

“Good thing I brought him a second alterer,” Allura muttered to herself as she watched the membrane on her brother’s face begin to melt away from the intensity of the quintessence swirling in his irises and face scales. She pushed the button and entered five million units on the screen in front of her, watching for Sendak’s reaction as it popped up on the podium screen.

“Well, well, well, it looks like our bidder in the box is serious about this one! Five million units! Are you ready to keep up with that?” Sendak asked the guy in the front row.

The man paused, hand still on his cock, as his mouth dropped open in shocked silence. The other hand in the air fell as he choked, attempting to say something. Lance noticed with some satisfaction that his cock went limp upon hearing the number.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Sendak said dryly. “Five million units, going once, going twice… Sold, to the generous benefactor in the box! Thank you for your business!”

“I can’t believe I just spent millions of units at a seedy Galra auction,” Allura lamented.

“You’ll get it back when they raid the place in thirty minutes,” Lance growled. “Now they’d better fucking take me to that room before I do something Dad would kill me for.”

“Lance, are you sure you’re alright? You’re getting…intense,” Shiro said, worried.

“I’m fine. Like I said, it’s physically painful to not be touching that hybrid. My quintessence is going crazy. Do you have your sunglasses on you?”

Shiro handed them over wordlessly, along with the spare alterer that Allura had brought.

Lance removed his damaged alterer, pressing the new one to his temple before sliding the sunglasses onto his face to hide his glowing eyes. “There. Now I won’t blow our cover. Let’s go before my quintessence starts exploding shit.”

Five minutes later, the promised guide showed up at the door. It was a small, pre-pubescent Galra girl, who bowed demurely.

“Put Ulaz and the hybrid in separate rooms,” Allura ordered, not a trace of her trademark accent in her voice. “The one in the glasses will be taking the hybrid, and I would not like to witness that.”

Lance was about to argue that fuck no, he would not be “taking” the hybrid, but then he remembered that such was the tradition at places like this. “Sendak said he was a screamer. I’d like to test that for myself.” He’d have to remember to ask the hybrid to play along so no one would get suspicious.

The girl nodded and turned, leading the trio down the stairs and past the bouncer to a small elevator. They all piled in, none of them speaking as the girl pulled a lever and the elevator shot downwards. A small ding sounded as the lift slowed down, and the girl exited first.

“I will go tell Sendak of your request. Please wait here,” she said before walking down the hallway and disappearing to the left.

“Take this,” Allura whispered, slipping a small device into Lance’s hand. “It’s another disruptor so you can reveal your identity to the hybrid without being recorded. They like to record what happens in those rooms to sell as Galra fetish porn later on. I know you don’t intend to have sex with that hybrid, but you should at least pleasure him to the point that he makes noises so they think you’re actually doing it.”

“I had already planned on that, but thanks for the reminder,” Lance replied, squeezing her hand. “I can defend myself, so once you get Ulaz bonded, call Father. I’m willing to bet these hallways lead to the escape routes, so you should get Shiro to use his arm to scan everything so you know what’s a room and what’s a tunnel. Tell the demo team to only collapse the tunnels. I’ll wait for a comm from you that says the coast is clear, ok?”

“Of course. She’s coming back. Good luck.”

“Madam, sir who’s not in the glasses, Ulaz is in a room down this hall and to the left four doors down. Sir in the glasses, please follow me.”

Lance silently trailed the girl, giving an indifferent farewell nod to his sister and her companion.

“Thank you for adopting him,” the girl said quietly.

“I’m sorry?”

“The hybrid. Thank you for adopting him. He’s the one who has been keeping Sendak from feeding me in the usual way. He has saved my life,” the girl said, still keeping a completely straight face.

“I… you’re welcome. I knew he was mine when he came on stage. My quintessence started going crazy. It can feel him now.”

“Do you have a special kind of quintessence?” the girl asked.

“Well…I’m in the royal family, so kinda,” Lance stated. He cursed, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Oh crap, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. I’m even wearing an alterer. Dammit, Lance, why are you such a dumbass?”

The girl giggled. “Don’t worry, I already know. I’ve met you before. I can sense your quintessence.”

Lance jumped, reeling the disobedient stuff back in. “Shit, does that mean the whole facility can, too?”

The girl shook her head. “No. I’m just very sensitive to quintessence. It’s why the hybrid prevented Sendak from feeding me. It would lead to an overload and my death. My name is Katya. My mother used to work in the castle. You blessed me when I was born, giving me this sensitivity to quintessence.”

“I remember that! Your mother went into labor right when I got into the kitchen for a midnight snack! I delivered you and, after your mom cleaned you off, kissed you on the forehead to bless you. How did you end up here?” Lance asked.

“I was kidnapped from a market a year later, when my mother was shopping for the castle cooks. She had me in a small basket and had set me aside to grab some vegetables. One of Sendak’s goons stole me and covered some tubers with the blanket in there to make my mother think that I was still there. I haven’t seen her since.”

“That’s terrible. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through, but listen, my father’s army will be storming this place soon. Do me a favor and go wait with the other slave Galra who weren’t sold, and they’ll rescue you and take you back to the palace. Your mother still works there,” Lance whispered hurriedly, knowing they were close. He could already sense the hybrid.

“Thank you,” Katya said, still emotionless. She stopped in front of a door, beckoning to it. “This is the room your new pet is in. Please enjoy!”

With that, she hurried down the hall. Lance took a deep breath, clutching the door handle. He could feel agitation and pain rolling off of the hybrid in waves, and he exhaled as he opened the door to a sight that would provide nightmares for millennia to come.

Immediately, he felt physical pain upon seeing the companion he’d adopted. His new hybrid was on the floor on all fours, wrists and ankles chained to the stone. He was facing just slightly away from the door, still gagged, and this time, blindfolded. Sendak sat next to him, a cruel smile on his face. Two of his fingers were shoved roughly into the hybrid’s entrance, blood seeping from between them, as Sendak whispered cruelly into the abused teen’s ear.

Lance had to pinch his thumb between his fingers to keep from throwing up as the anger and his bile welled up inside of him. His quintessence spoke his next few words, giving them a much deeper timbre than he was used to hearing from his own mouth. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Sendak started slightly, but his smirk reappeared as he removed his fingers from the prone body on the floor. “Just reminding our fiery friend here to behave. Isn’t that right, slut?”

The hybrid moaned quietly through the gag. Lance had to hold back his rising bile—there were fresh bruises on his body, and blood continued to seep from his entrance with every twitch of pain. Sendak stood and walked over to Lance, not even trying to hide his obvious erection.

“If you need a…helping hand in making him submit,” Sendak offered, licking the blood off of his fingers in a suggestive manner, “I’d be happy to help. I want to hear him scream one last time.”

That did it. Lance unleashed the animalistic quintessence that had been roiling inside him since he’d seen the mistreated hybrid on the stage, pulling the sunglasses from his face and letting his eyes and quintessence go red with anger. He gripped Sendak by the neck and pushed him up against the wall, feet suspended a good foot off the ground.

“Touch him again, lay even a **fucking** **finger** on that hybrid, and you’ll be the one screaming. Leave us.”

Sendak struggled in his grip, and Lance let him down, stalking him towards the door. Sendak backed away, wide-eyed. “What—what are you?”

“Your worst fucking nightmare. Now **LEAVE** ,” Lance ordered, using his anger-induced telekinetic powers to open the door behind Sendak and shoved the creature out, loudly slamming it behind him and turning the deadbolt.

The prince sighed, his eyes returning to their normal blue as he reeled his anger back in. His quintessence seemed to be satisfied. He turned to the hybrid and panicked—the poor thing was shaking.

“Oh shit. I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise. That was just… oh god, how do I explain this?” Lance asked himself, walking towards the hybrid.

He carefully set the device Allura had given him on the floor, kneeling next to his future companion. He unhooked the teen’s hands and feet first, nearly crying at the almost bone-deep wounds the chains had left. He un-gagged the hybrid and removed the blindfold, sitting back to look at those violet eyes again. The boy scrambled back from him, backing himself into the corner of the room.

“Are you going to kill me?” the hybrid asked quietly in a voice hoarse from screaming in pain.

“God, no,” Lance whispered, pulling the water bottle from his coat. The boy eyed the glowing blue water in it warily, wincing away from the prince. “I’m here to adopt you.”

“What?”

“I’m the one that bid on you before Sendak could talk about you.”

“You were in the box?”

“Yeah, my sister and I were. And her companion.”

“That... that energy, what is it? I felt it in the auction room, too.”

“That was my quintessence,” Lance answered honestly. “It’s got a mind of its own sometimes.”

“It felt… It—what are you?”

“Before I answer that, please drink this and tell me your name. I promise I’m not here to hurt you.”

The hybrid warily crept forward within arm’s reach, snatching the water bottle out of Lance’s hand. He scrambled back into the corner, opening the top and downing the whole thing in one go. Lance sighed as his quintessence finally calmed, sensing the bond start to take hold.

The boy moaned, trying to get every last drop of quintessence-infused water from the bottle. “Your quintessence is so powerful, oh my god. I haven’t been fed this well in months.”

“Yeah, well, they’re gonna regret starving you, those fucks,” Lance said, his features darkening. “But I’m glad you like it. There’s definitely more where that came from. And your name?”

“Keith,” the hybrid answered, swirling a finger around on the inside of the bottle to get all the rest of the quintessence. “Yours?”

“Leandro, but my friends and family usually call me Lance when I’m not pissing them off.”

Keith froze, staring at his new master. “Leandro? Lance? That’s…”

The prince wordlessly detached what was left of his facial alterer, smiling as his snowy white hair color returned and Keith’s violet eyes went wide. He finished his sentence for him: “My name, don’t wear it out.”

“Holy shit,” Keith gasped, trying to push himself further into the corner. “Holy shit. I just got adopted by the prince of the Altean empire. Holy shit. Why are you even **here**?”

“It’s a long story, and I’ll explain it later, but do you at least trust me now when I say I want to get you out of here?” Lance asked.

“I—I don’t know,” the hybrid replied. “You’ve never adopted a Galra before, from what I’ve heard. Why me?”

“To be honest, I have no idea. I just… I felt something when I saw you from the box. It was overwhelming, and all of a sudden, it was like I was being drawn to the stage.”

“I think know what you mean. During the auction it felt like I was being physically pulled toward the box. I was terrified, since the slavers usually go in there. I thought I’d accidentally bonded with some sadistic asshole.”

“Yeah, Allura's told me about them. But I guess they cut their quintessence off when they go to auctions so that they don’t accidentally bond any Galra.”

“Why the hell is your quintessence so powerful? And why are we still whispering?”

“Listen, I’d love to chat longer, but I think Sendak is standing right outside the door waiting to hear us…y’know. I’ll explain everything later, but right now we need to come up with a plan. In fact, I think I know just the thing.”

“You want to fuck me,” Keith stated, inching backwards from Lance again.

“No, no, that wasn’t what I was intending at all, I promise,” Lance protested, raising his hands defensively. “I can heal wounds with my quintessence. I could heal your wounds for you.”

“What does that have to do with convincing Sendak that we’re having sex?” Keith asked, confused.

“Well, most people I heal become…aroused from it,” Lance explained. “It has something to do with how powerful my quintessence is. Honestly, it’s kinda awkward, but it works for a plan right now. Even if you don’t react that way, if you could moan or something every time it hurts, we’ll get him convinced.”

“I…”

“You don’t have to!” Lance exclaimed, albeit quietly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to ever again, I swear. You can even leave after I take you back to the palace. Healing you is just the best thing I could come up with on such short notice. We only have to do it for a little while, and then my father’s soldiers will be storming the place.”

Keith stared at him for a bit, seemingly deciding between running screaming from the room and going along with Lance’s plan. To the prince’s relief, he chose the latter. “Alright. Where do you want me?”

“Lie on your back. It’ll be easier that way,” Lance suggested. “You’ll feel a bit of a tingle at first, and then either pain or pleasure, depending on your body. Either way, I’m going to need you to act like I’m having sex with you.”

“Got it,” Keith said, and then, while smirking shakily: “So I need to moan for thirty seconds and then quit?”

Lance snorted. “Haha, very funny. I might be a virgin, but I’ve had plenty of time to increase my endurance. My lasting time would be the least of your worries if we actually had sex.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I…I was just trying to lighten the mood, but I didn’t actually think—you’re seriously a virgin? But you’re…”

“I’m what?” Lance asked.

“A prince. Shouldn’t women be all over you?”

“Women and men, yes, but my…reproductive emissions are pure quintessence. I can get women pregnant even with contraception, and men is twice the waste of quintessence, so it’s forbidden for me to engage in frivolous sexual activity,” Lance recited, remembering all the lectures he’d gotten about it.

“Your what?”

“Cum, Keith. My cum is pure quintessence,” Lance explained impatiently. “Can I heal you now? I told you, you can ask as many questions as you want when we're safe.”

“Uh—yeah, yeah, of course. Heal away,” Keith said, blushing slightly at Lance’s frank response.

Lance rubbed his hands together, letting his quintessence flow to them until the palms glowed with blue light. He lowered them until they hovered just above Keith’s chest, glancing up at the hybrid’s face. “Ready?”

Keith nodded, visibly tensing up.

“Relax,” Lance said, pressing his palms to the hybrid’s chest and letting his quintessence flow. “And don’t call me Lance when you get noisy.”

The response was immediate and arousing. Keith’s eyes rolled back into his head as he let out one of the most pornographic moans Lance had ever heard. His body arched into the touch as Lance pushed his quintessence into the hybrid’s body, searching for wounds to heal. He healed Keith’s hoarse throat first so his moans could be heard. Then, Lance began from the feet, since they were the hardest to reach from the chest area and he didn’t exactly want to be feeling up his Galra so soon into their tentative relationship without getting proper permission.

“Ah! Oh god, La—M—Master, more!”

Lance didn’t usually get turned on by his patients’ moans while healing. It was a purely cursory task that patients sometimes became aroused from, like a reproductive examination. This, however…this was making it hard to stay professional, especially when his quintessence got to Keith’s entrance so he could heal the tears and the sickening amount of scar tissue inside. The moans turned into near screams as Lance tried his hardest to ignore his new companion’s twitching, weeping cock. It seemed that Keith wasn’t faking it _at all_.

He continued moving his quintessence through Keith’s body, grimacing as he discovered the beginning traces of internal bleeding from a rib that had been broken and bent inwards, puncturing some of Keith’s internal organs. Lance fixed the problem with an extra burst of quintessence, an action that resulted in Keith reaching his peak with a high-pitched, broken moan. The hybrid slumped onto the floor, moaning quietly with each successive part Lance healed. The Altean even made sure that Keith’s cum floated off of his skin and slid to the floor, though the action made him blush even harder than he already was.

After he fixed the lash and burn marks on Keith’s back and shoulders, Lance shifted his position so that Keith’s head was in his lap. He removed his hands from the hybrid’s chest, peering down at his new companion until he recovered.

“Why’d you stop?” Keith asked, slowly sitting up and wiping the tears of pleasure from his cheeks.

“I was about to move to your head. My quintessence can erase or lessen the severity of bad memories when I use it on people’s brains, but only if you consent. You have to give me your consent, or it doesn’t work,” Lance said, staring into those violet eyes and waiting for an affirmative. His wristband dinged before Keith could answer.

Lance swore, pulling the thing to his face and reading the message aloud, albeit quietly. “Ulaz bonded. Troops ready. You safe?”

“Is that your sister?” Keith wondered, shifting closer to Lance to see the screen.

“Yeah,” Lance said, typing a quick _Am ok. Bonded well. Tell them to move in and find us._ He finished his text and pulled his cloak off of his shoulders, wrapping it around those of his new companion. “There. Now you won’t be butt naked when the soldiers come for us. You’ll feel some rumbling and explosions in a minute, so that’ll also help protect your newly-healed skin from whatever decides to fall from the ceiling.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Keith asked, backing away from Lance slightly. “I don’t trust you, we’ve only just met ten minutes ago, and yet you treat me like I’m something special, like I’m… like I’m a person. Why is that?”

“I don’t really like the whole Galra companionship thing. To be honest, I’ve personally always thought it was bullshit. Galra can live on their own. I would know, since I started a planet for them to do just that. They have plants whose seeds produce an oil that’s pure quintessence. They harvest it once a month to feed their population. Galra are fully capable of sustaining themselves, yet many Alteans still feel the need to have a companion, even if those companions can choose to leave.”

“Would you let me leave? If I decided to?” Keith inquired, head cocking to the side.

“Of course. We might have an incredibly intense quintessence bond, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to make you my slave,” Lance admitted. “Thought I’m not sure what my quintessence would do if you left, and I’d be kind of disappointed since I finally found a Galra—well, half Galra—that was compatible with it, but yeah, I’d let you leave if you wanted to.”

Keith opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud bang, followed by what felt like an earthquake. He spooked, jumping, and ran to Lance, settling into his lap.

Lance chuckled, using his hands to shield his new companion’s head from the concrete chunks that began to rain from the ceiling. “The army always did know how to make an entrance,” he said, covering his own head with his telekinesis.

“Are they going to kill Sendak?” Keith asked quietly after all the explosions had stopped.

“Most likely not. I’d guess that they’re going to put him in a holding cell in the palace prison,” Lance answered, tentatively wrapping his arms around the hybrid.

“And then?”

The prince sensed his eyes go red, small tendrils of that animalistic quintessence he’d never known so intimately before today escaping from his body. “I’m going to make him wish he was never born.”

A shiver went through Keith, causing Lance to wrap his arms tighter around him, rubbing his skin through the cloak. “Sorry. Are you cold?”

“Not really. You’re just…kinda fucking terrifying when you do that.”

Lance laughed, albeit sheepishly. “It’s new to me, too, if that’s any consolation. My quintessence really, really likes you. It’s been bouncing around inside me since you hugged me when the explosions started.”

Keith blushed, scooting away from the Altean again. “I’m sorry. I should be trying to rip your head off, but there’s just something about you that feels like…”

“Like?” Lance prompted, curious as to the end of his sentence.

“Home,” Keith whispered, and the door flew open.

“Lance!” Allura exclaimed, rushing into the room and sweeping her brother into a suffocating hug.

“Hello to you too, Allura,” Lance said, wrapping his arms around her. “How’d the raid go?”

“All of the Galra that weren’t sold, and a few who were, are accounted for. Sendak is in custody, as are the rest of the organizers. It’s strange, though—the little Galra girl who led us to our companions was in with the unsold Galra and claims that she knows you, Lance.”

“Yeah, that’s Katya.”

Keith’s eyes went wide as he stared at the prince. “You know Katya?”

“Yeah, I delivered and blessed her after her mom went into labor in front of me. Her mom works in the castle kitchen, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a smile on her face,” Lance said. “I’d been wondering why, but I don’t know her well enough to ask something so personal.”

“But…but Katya’s nearly thirteen. You can’t be any older than I am,” Keith protested. “How would you be old enough to even know what delivering a baby meant, let alone blessing one?”

Allura burst out laughing as Shiro face-palmed. Lance groaned, blushing slightly.

“Keith, how much have you heard about the royal family?” Lance asked over his sister’s cackling, kneeling back down so he was at Keith’s level again.

“I know you’ve all got incredibly powerful quintessence, Allura’s the only woman, you’ve never adopted a Galra, and that you’re all for Galra rights,” Keith listed, adding under his breath: “To the distaste of some of my former masters.”

“Did you also know that all of them are immortal?” Shiro asked.

“What?” Keith turned to Lance, who was fiddling with his white hair a little suspiciously. “You’re all immortal? Then…Lance? How old are you?”

“Older than you?” Lance suggested, grinning sheepishly.

Allura rolled her eyes. “Lance. Tell him or I will.”

Lance sighed, taking Keith’s hands into his. “Please don’t freak out, but I’m kind of seven thousand years old.”

Keith’s mouth dropped open, his hands going limp in Lance’s.

“Seven thousand and one, to be precise!” Allura helpfully added. “I’m ten thousand, five hundred and sixty-four. Shiro is ninety-three!”

Keith dropped Lance’s hands, scrambling back into the corner. “B-b-b-but Shiro is Terran, like my father was. How is he that old?”

“Altean royalty have the power to make anyone bonded to their quintessence immortal,” Lance explained. “Shiro’s bonded to Allura, as are his adopted siblings. She waited until they were all of age before making them immortal, though. Shiro was twenty-five when she immortalized him. Pidge and Hunk are both sixty-six, though they still look twenty.”

“I-I’m eighteen,” Keith stated, curling into a little ball. “How in the hell would I fit in in your house? You’ve all seen things I can’t even imagine. Are you going to make me immortal, too? Am I even compatible enough for that? I-I can’t—“

“Shh, shh, it’s alright,” Lance cooed, inching towards Keith until he could rest a hand on his shoulder. “We might be ancient, but we don’t act that way. Except for Shiro. He’s always got a lesson of some sort to share with you when you least expect it. Isn’t that right, old man?”

“You’re old enough to have fathered my entire race,” Shiro said. “Stop being so cocky.”

Lance sputtered and turned to the hybrid to back him up. His dreams were bashed when he felt Keith shake as a snicker passed through him. “Hey! You’re supposed to defend me, not agree with him!”

“Actually, the Terran race has been around for about 200,000 years, so not even our father is old enough to have originated them. Lance is old enough to have started modern civilization 6,000 years ago, when I visited them for the first time,” Allura informed them all before adding a small, affectionately-toned note to Lance: “You had just reached sexual maturity by then. You were infuriatingly hormonal. It was one of the reasons why I left to visit Terra.”

“Can we not with the history lesson and the embarrassing shit? My Galra needs some clothes, and here you are blabbering on about sexual maturity,” Lance said, glaring at his sister and failing to notice the small blush on Keith’s cheeks from being referred to as Lance’s Galra.

“Of course! Shiro has some clothing for him.”

“Yeah, I brought the castle uniform for him,” Shiro said. “We retrieved it from the car after the explosions.”

“Awesome. Hey Allura, can I speak to you in the hallway while Keith gets dressed?” Lance asked.

The princess followed her brother into the hallway, looking at him questioningly as he walked until he was out of earshot of the two in the room they’d just left.

“Lance? What’s wrong?”

“He’s _eighteen_ , Allura. Keith is _eighteen_ , and when I walked in the room, Sendak was literally raping him with his fingers. When he pulled them out, they were covered in blood. He has scars all over his body, and I felt scar tissue on the inside when I healed him. One of his ribs was broken and puncturing some of his organs. How in the hell am I supposed to get this Galra to trust me when he’s probably never been able to trust anything his entire life?” Lance asked, turning pleading eyes to his sister. “He seems to like me already, but I’m sure he’s just in shock.”

“Well,” Allura began, a smug look overtaking her face.

“Why are you smiling? This kid has been incredibly mistreated!” Lance shouted, interrupting her.

“Chapter Two.”

“What?” Lance queried.

“How To Bond With Your Galra Companion In Five Easy Steps, Chapter Two: Gaining Trust,” Allura finished, crossing her arms. “That supposedly stupid book you threw at my head yesterday? That has all the answers you need to get Keith to trust you, and maybe even love you. I kept the copy I gave you, though I’m not so sure you deserve it now.”

“Allura, I’m begging you,” Lance pleaded, dropping to his knees and clutching his sister’s leg like a small child, “I need him to trust me. You should have seen how my quintessence reacted when I opened that door. It went red, Allura. The only other time that's happened was when that stupid Klaak almost killed Blue. Even then, it wasn’t this intense. There’s something about him, Allura. Something that makes me want to keep him.”

“And if he decides to leave?”

“I don’t know how I’d handle it, much less how my quintessence would. But if he wants to leave…” Lance trailed off, sighing. “I’d let him.”

He sat in anguished silence for a minute as his sister processed his words.

“That’s the only answer I needed!” Allura exclaimed, handing Lance a small bundle from her bag. “Here’s the book. Don’t let Keith see it. I’m not sure what he’d do.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Lance shouted, hugging her. “You’re my favorite sister!

“I’m your only sister, you dolt. Now let’s go—Uncle is expecting us. When we told him we’d adopted a Galra for him, he came instead of Father. We sent Ulaz out to meet him, but when we told him that you’d adopted a Galra/Terran hybrid, he said he’d wait for you to come out before heading back to the castle. He really wants to meet Keith.”

The siblings walked back to the holding room, Lance breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Keith talking to Shiro. The hybrid seemed comfortable, clad in the black and purple robes of the Galra companions of the castle. The prince felt a blush come to his cheeks at how good Keith looked in the clothing, but the blush spread to his entire face when Keith turned to look at him and immediately smiled wider.

“Lance! Shiro says you have a dragon! Can I meet her?”

“Looks like it’s going to be a real problem, getting him to trust you. You’ve really got your work cut out for you,” Allura whispered, snickering.

“Shut your quiznak.”


	2. Chapter 2: Gaining Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry I made you wait so long for this chapter. Work has been crazy this summer, but I'm finally on my vacation, so I'll be able to dedicate more time for writing. I actually haven't been able to finish chapter 3 yet, but I decided to post chapter 2 since it's been almost two months since I posted the first chapter. I'm a reader who enjoys torturing myself by falling in love with stories that take months to update, so I get it, and that's why I've chosen to post chapter 2 :)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Trigger warnings for this chapter are gratuitous violence (Lance does some not-nice things to Sendak), language, angst, and sexual references. If that bothers you, as usual, please close the tab and leave! 
> 
> Lance's dragon looks like Saphira from Eragon by the way--I love the way they designed her (literally the only good thing about that movie lol) so I decided to base Blue after her. 
> 
> I'll warn again--the characters might be a little OOC because I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Voltron again after the way they f*cked it over in the last few seasons, so I don't have as good of a handle on the characters as I'd like. Apologies if it throws you off! I hope everyone enjoys!

**How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps!**

**Chapter Two: Gaining Trust**

Congratulations! If you’ve moved to this chapter, you’ve most likely adopted a Galra from an auction, and that’s nothing to sneeze at! This chapter will be all about gaining your new Galra companion’s trust, so strap in and read on for a helpful guide to ensuring your companionship lasts a lifetime!

Now, chances are that if you adopted from a reputable auction, it won’t take much to get your Galra to trust you. However, if you adopted a rescue Galra, they have most likely had a bad life, and you’ve got quite the journey ahead of you!

The first thing to remember is that many rescue Galra are sensitive about their past. The best way to get them to open up is to use the bond—show them something you enjoy, and your quintessence will do the rest! If they’ve already consumed a lot of it, they will begin to feel your emotions and will get as excited about your passion as you are! (Keep in mind that once you do the initial feeding, you probably won’t have to feed your Galra again for about a month, so you should be able to finish Chapter Two by then and move to Chapter Three, which talks about how best to feed your Galra.)

Once you get them to open up about their past, reward them! Take them out for something fun or give them a special gift, or tell them about your own past! Galra have an incredible memory, so chances are they’ll remember things you like and don’t like and automatically avoid your dislikes. Think of it like training a pet—if you give the pet a treat after it does something you like, but use a stern voice after it does something you don’t like, it will stop doing the thing you don’t like. It’s the same with Galra, but be careful! Using a stern voice when you don’t mean to could cause your Galra to become afraid of you, therefore no longer trusting you.

Rescue Galra make some of the best companions, but it is quite difficult to heal their past wounds. Talking to them is the best way to gain their trust, according to Galra experts, but you can also take them to a therapist to try to alleviate some of their worst memories. It can be very hard to get a rescue Galra to trust anyone ever again, but have faith in yourself! If you’re consulting this book, then you probably care more about your Galra than many of their past owners at this point!

Galra adopted from reputable auctions are much quicker to trust, so if you’ve already completely bonded with your Galra, please move to Chapter Three, Feeding Your Galra!

If you’ve adopted a rescue and the methods listed above aren’t working, you are probably better off either calling a therapist or surrendering your Galra to a rehabilitation center for a deep-cleanse memory wipe.

If this chapter has been helpful, go ahead and move to the next to learn all about how to feed your Galra!

* * *

 _How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps_ , Lance decided, was utter bullshit.

Keith had brightened up considerably since meeting Shiro. He’d been a little uncomfortable with Coran, but that was understandable—Lance’s uncle was kind of weird. However now that they were on their way to the castle, Lance couldn’t help but notice that Keith seemed totally non-traumatized. Lance had thought he was in shock from what Sendak had been doing to him before he’d entered the room, but Keith seemed fine.

“A little too fine.”

Keith started from where he was looking excitedly out the window of the hovercar, turning to face Lance. “Did you say something?”

“Nah, just thinking out loud. How are you? Are you feeling okay?” Lance inquired.

“Sendak is going to get his ass kicked, Katya and the others are safe, and I’m headed to the Altean royal palace right now. I’d say I’m pretty okay,” Keith admitted, a small smile on his face.

“I’m glad. How are you feeling physically? Are you hungry or anything?”

“Yeah, a little bit. I think I’m good on solid food for now, but I could use some extra quintessence.”

“Got it,” Lance answered, pulling a water bottle from small cooler and unbuttoning his coat, shifting into a more comfortable position.

“Oh, thanks,” Keith said before realizing the situation. The hybrid immediately turned red, curling into himself. “You—you’re gonna do that here? Now? Do you want me to turn away or something?”

“What? Oh. Oh, no, I won’t be doing _that_ , don’t worry,” Lance said, pulling off the coat Allura had given him and unscrewing the top of the bottle. “Taking this off just makes this easier.”

“Then what…” Keith trailed off as Lance closed his eyes.

“I kind of have to concentrate on this so I don’t explode stuff, so...don’t yell or anything, ok?” Lance announced before forming a ball of quintessence in his palm.

To his credit, the only noise Keith managed was a small gasp as his eyes went wide with shock, leaning forward slightly to get a closer look. Lance opened his eyes, chuckling at the reaction. He began the same process he’d used earlier, pulling some of the quintessence out of the ball and into his arm until it was small enough to fit through the opening of the bottle. He dropped it in and closed the cap, shaking it until the water glowed a light blue.

“Here you go.” Lance handed the bottle to his new companion, who accepted it after only a small hesitation.

“What was that?”

“It’s another perk of my weird quintessence. I have an unlimited supply, so I don’t have the natural limiters like other Alteans with a finite amount of it. I’ve been able to manifest all my life, though I didn’t really learn to control it until I was about 500 years old. It got to the point that my dad had to lock me up in a room by myself so I wouldn’t keep making things break or explode around the castle,” Lance recalled, laughing. “In fact, when I saw you from the box, I almost lost control for the first time in a long time. Did you notice the glass vibrating?”

“Yeah,” Keith said, opening the bottle and taking a small sip. “I figured it was just a rumble from the flare or something, but I was a little confused because I didn’t feel it anywhere else.”

“Yep, that was me and my crazy quintessence. How is it, by the way?” Lance asked, inclining his head towards the water bottle.

Keith nodded, mouth full from having sipped from the bottle again. He swallowed, clearing his throat. “It’s good. God, you’re powerful. It usually took multiple...feedings from my past owners before I was satisfied, but one sip from this and it feels like I’m halfway there.”

“That’s not even pure, either—it’s incredibly diluted from both the water and from the manifestation process.”

“What do you mean?” Keith queried.

“Well, when I draw it back into me like that, it lessens the concentration. If I remember right, quintessence is like 50% organic material and 50% cosmic. The organic is more potent than the cosmic, especially in my case, and when I draw the quintessence back into my body, I’m pulling organic material,” Lance explained. “I don’t pull all of it, but what you’re drinking now is most likely 90% cosmic material and 10% organic material. Technically speaking, it’s not potent at all.”

“Jesus Christ, what would happen if we…if we…”

“Nothing, because it’s not gonna happen,” Lance asserted, crossing his arms. “I told you I’d never force you to do something you didn’t want to do, Keith. And even if you somehow decided you wanted to, which would be a miracle because you’re gorgeous and I’m… Look, it could kill you. I could completely destroy your receptors. Look at how you’re reacting to the most diluted form of my quintessence—you yourself said you were nearly full.”

“You think I’m gorgeous?” Keith asked, smiling slightly.

“Of course I do. You’ll be even more gorgeous once we throw you into a bath at the palace. No offense, but your hair is kinda disgusting,” Lance teased.

Keith scowled slightly but couldn’t sustain it, breaking into a laugh. The prince felt his quintessence get all fuzzy again as he joined in his companion’s mirth, letting out a small chuckle himself.

After a little while, the hybrid sobered, looking at Lance quizzically. “You think you’re not attractive?”

“I’m not as pretty as you, that’s for damn sure. I’m attractive enough, but seven thousand years of people only being interested in you for your crown are enough to shake anyone’s self esteem. Allura’s the gorgeous one. She got Mom’s looks. I’m just…me.”

Lance’s pointed ear twitched as Keith mumbled something. “I’m sorry?”

“I said that I think you’re attractive,” Keith exclaimed, turning a rather interesting shade of red.

Lance laughed at the color, which only served to make the hybrid blush deeper and curl into the seat again. “I thought Galra were supposed to be purple, not red!”

“I’m a hybrid, you dumbass,” Keith grumbled. “I usually look human.”

“How does that even work, anyway? When Sendak announced that there was a Terran-Galra hybrid, we weren’t sure what to expect.”

“I can eat solid food and quintessence, I have accelerated healing, and I can turn into a Galra.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. It usually happens when I’m feeling strong emotions, but it hasn’t for a while. Sendak injected me with something that kept me from transforming because of what I did to him.”

“What did you do?”

“The first time he tried to feed me, by force of course, I went Galra and scratched the hell out of his face. It’s why he’s missing his eye.”

“You did that?” Lance whistled, impressed. “So how long does it take to wear off?”

“He injected me every three weeks, and the last one was two days ago, to keep me…docile for the auction. I’ll be able to transform in around three weeks,” Keith recounted. “At least, I think I should be able to.”

“We’ll see. Hey, we’re here,” Lance said, watching the gates of the palace pass by.

“Lance?”

“Yeah, Keith?”

“I’m…I’m kind of nervous. What if the other companions don’t like me?” Keith wondered.

“Oh, don’t worry. Hunk loves everyone, and Pidge warms up eventually. They’ll love you, I promise,” Lance told him. “And the servants in the castle, who are here of their own free will by the way, will love you too. But first, a bath.”

The hovercar came to a stop and the prince hopped out, holding the door for Keith to follow him. The hybrid shyly exited the vehicle, openly gaping at the building before him, with its giant front door and impressively tall, glowing spires.

“You’re going to start attracting bugs if your jaw stays open like that,” Coran advised, gently pressing up on Keith’s chin to close his mouth. Ulaz, who was standing next to his new master, chuckled.

“You two seem to have bonded well,” Lance said.

“I should say the same to you. Your hybrid looks healthy now! He seemed a little shell-shocked back at the auction house, but now he’s got some color in his cheeks.”

“Not even close. He needs a bath, some serious pampering, some solid food, and _then_ he’ll be healthy, Uncle. Keith? You coming?”

“Yeah,” the hybrid replied absentmindedly. “Be right there.”

Lance laughed. “C’mon, the inside is even more impressive.”

The prince led his companion up the steps and pushed the front doors open, smiling as his hybrid’s mouth dropped open again. “Welcome to the Castle of Lions.”

* * *

After giving Keith a brief tour of the palace, Lance led him to his personal bathing rooms to get cleaned up. He navigated his way to the room on muscle memory alone, his eyes too preoccupied with watching the beautiful hybrid’s reactions to various things around the castle. He relished in the sight of Keith’s eyes widening as they entered what Lance thought to be the bathing rooms.

“The silver bottle is shampoo and the black is conditioner. The bathwater contains soap, so all you have to do to clean your body is scrub with the small pouf on the rim of the tub. Turn the shower on to rinse, and then the final tub is clean water to soak in if you need some time to relax,” Lance informed his companion, turning to leave.

“W—wait,” Keith protested, catching the back of Lance’s tunic.

“What? What’s wrong?” Lance asked, turning around and gingerly wrapping his arms around the hybrid. “You’re shivering. Are you cold? The water is warm, so you can make a mad dash for it once you get your robes off. That’s what I always do.”

“I’m not cold,” Keith said, lightly punching Lance’s chest. “I…”

“Come on, spit it out,” Lance coaxed.

“I can’t swim.”

Lance pushed Keith’s shoulders back, gaping at him. “You _what_.”

“I. Can’t. Fucking. Swim. What part of that do you not get?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t get it, it’s that…have you never taken a bath before? You don’t need to swim for a bath.”

“Lance. I’m not sure if you noticed, but your bath? It’s a swimming pool _on the fucking ceiling_.”

* * *

After the brief confusion about the bath (Lance had gotten the wrong room in his haste to get Keith cleaned up and had accidentally led them to Allura’s swimming pool) and a quick route adjustment, the pair finally arrived in Lance’s actual bathing rooms. By now, the suns had set and the light that usually made the room bright was gone, so the artificial lighting had kicked in, making Keith look even more angelic in the soft glow.

“I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t looking at the room,” Lance said sheepishly, a little ashamed that he’d been so distracted by his new companion. “These are my actual baths. I’ll stay in here with you to make sure you don’t drown, I guess. Need me to remind you what’s what?”

“Nope,” Keith told him, starting to strip his robe off.

Lance gulped and turned red, quickly spinning to look away.

“Why are you doing that? You’ve seen me naked before. In fact, you’ve seen me in much more of a compromising position than me just standing here naked. Need I remind you of the healing thing?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m trying to be a gentleman,” Lance hissed through clenched teeth. His quintessence was roiling and writhing inside of him, trying with all its might to get him to turn around.

“Lance?” the prince heard the hybrid say before he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“No,” the prince bit out, his body pushing into the touch against his will. “My quintessence is going crazy again.”

“Oh. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah,” Lance said as he partially gave in, spinning around to stare the hybrid in the eyes. His own irises were glowing bright blue as his quintessence communicated to him exactly what it wanted him to do to Keith. He decided to compromise, wrapping his arms around the hybrid. “Try not to kill me for doing this.”

With that, he pressed their lips together in an insistent kiss. Keith tensed in his arms before relaxing into the kiss, pressing back insistently and humming quietly when Lance ran his tongue along his bottom lip, asking for entrance. The hybrid acquiesced, moaning into the other’s mouth as the quintessence from the prince’s saliva began to buzz its way into his system.

Lance pulled apart first, panting. He held Keith up, the hybrid having relaxed to the point of falling if not for Lance’s arms around him. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I…yeah, I’m alright, just a little surprised. What the hell was that for?”

“My quintessence was bouncing around a bit painfully in my gut, wanting me to do much worse than I just did. That just now was…a compromise.”

“I can see that,” Keith observed, licking his lips. “I’m a little buzzed now, so I hope you’re happy. Was that…?”

“Yes. That was my undiluted quintessence just now. I’m sure you can imagine what would happen if we did that…the other way.”

“Yeah,” Keith said absentmindedly, imagining just that. “I’m sure it’d be incredible.”

“Ha-ha,” Lance laughed sarcastically. “Death wish much?”

Keith scowled, crossing his arms, and Lance became uncomfortably aware of the hybrid’s nudity again. “I could handle it.”

“Yeah, well, we’re never going to find out if you can. Now get your ass in that tub.”

Keith washed up in silence, watching the prince from across the room. The Altean had sat down in one of the ornate chairs, facing away from the hybrid, to think.

_The book said to try and get him to open up about his past, but I’m not sure how to get him to do that. Maybe by providing meeting Blue as an incentive?_

“Keith—“

“Lance—“

“You first,” the prince deferred.

“How are you planning on keeping up my quintessence intake if you’re not going to fuck me to feed me?”

Lance spluttered, blushing, as he nearly fell out of the chair he was perched in as he whirled around to look at the hybrid. “God, warn a guy before you say something like that, Keith! I—I figured I could just manifest. With the water bottles.”

“And that’s it? Just a water bottle a day for the foreseeable future? That sounds pretty boring if you ask me,” Keith mused. “And I’m pretty sure that your quintessence might explode if you don’t touch me.”

“I’ll find a way to keep it from doing that,” Lance said evenly.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Why do you want me to fuck you so bad?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I find you attractive and you just saved my life today? Maybe because I don’t know what else to do to get closer to you? Maybe because you’re the first master I’ve ever had be actually genuinely nice to me?”

They stood facing each other, panting. Keith was still covered in suds from the tub he’d angrily risen out of, and they slid distractingly down his lithe form as he stared accusingly at Lance.

“That’s exactly why,” Lance admitted, turning the chair around to face Keith and slumping back into it.

“What?”

“The fact that I’m the only master who’s been kind to you. I haven’t been any nicer to you than I usually am to anyone I meet, but you think I’m being nice to you simply because I’m not traumatizing you further. Keith, I…when I healed you, I found scar tissue everywhere. And I mean, _everywhere_. Sendak wasn’t the only one who raped you, was he?”

“That’s…I’ve been fed that way since I hit puberty,” Keith said, sinking back into the bath water. “Most of the time it was by force. After a while, I learned how to distance myself so I couldn’t feel it. Why does it matter to you?”

“Because you’re a child, Keith!” Lance cried, actual tears forming and falling to the floor as he rested his head in his hands. “I might act like I’m your age, but I’m ancient. I’ve seen things that you can’t even imagine, seen more lives pass than you ever will. I’m ancient, and you’re—you’re so young, Keith. You should be innocent, should still be on Terra going to school and having friends and—and working on a motorbike or something. Not sitting in this room with an immortal Altean prince whose quintessence is incredibly possessive of you.”

“Lance, you haven’t done anything wrong! Yeah, I’ve been mistreated, but I kept my humanity all through that, even as a hybrid. Do you…do you not want me because I’m...” the hybrid trailed off, his next words so quiet that if Lance were any other species, he wouldn’t have heard them: “because I’m damaged goods?”

“God, no!” Lance exclaimed, bringing his head up fast enough to give a normal person whiplash. “Fuck, Keith, why would you ever think that? I don’t care about your past, though I do want you to tell me about it someday. It—It’s because I’m probably just as bad as your previous masters. I’ve done terrible things in my life. I’ve—I’ve killed people.”

“So what? From what I know of you so far, you probably did it in self defense or in defense of others.”

“I killed my own mother,” Lance said in a voice colder than the one Keith had heard him use on Sendak. There was also a hint of sadness in the tone, Lance’s downcast face making it even more obvious.

“W—what?” Keith asked, violet eyes going wide.

“You heard me,” Lance spat. He checked his wristband and stood up. “Rinse off and get some robes from the counter over here. I’ll send someone to lead you to dinner, since you can eat solid food. We’ll talk later.”

With that, the prince stormed out of the room.

“Lance! Lance, wait! LANCE!”

Keith’s cries of the prince’s name made him want to turn around, but he resisted it, slamming the door and collapsing against it.

“Holy quiznak, I haven’t even known him for a day and I’m already spilling out my deepest secrets. What the hell is wrong with me?” Lance lamented, sliding to the floor.

Keith was in a similar position inside the room, having moved to the shower area after it became obvious that Lance would not be returning.

“Looks like this guy’s just as complicated as I am,” the hybrid mused, rinsing the conditioner from his hair.

* * *

“Did you and Keith have a fight? You’ve only known each other for a few hours, how could you already be fighting?” Allura whispered to her brother at the dinner table. The pair had been avoiding each others’ gaze for the past hour, which was a little hard considering they were sitting across from each other.

Alfor had been estatic that Lance had finally adopted a Galra, but a sudden issue had come up and he’d been forced to leave on a diplomatic mission. Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk had already eaten and had gone to train with their dragons, leaving Allura and Coran to deal with the steaming pile of angst that had so suddenly come of Lance’s impulsive adoption.

“Kind of,” Lance replied, munching on some bread.

“No, not kind of. We had a fight,” Keith interjected, glaring daggers at Lance. “Your brother here told me something that no normal person would be able to hear without a ton of questions coming up, then had the utter grace to storm out of the fucking room before I could get a word in edgewise.”

“That’s not true,” Lance spat.

“Boys!” Coran exclaimed. “Goodness, calm down! It’s dinner, not a battlefield! Lance, why don’t you explain yourself?”

“I told him about what I did to Mom,” Lance replied, not taking his eyes off of Keith.

“Lance, how many times do I have to tell you that what happened to her was not your fault! I told you that yesterday, too!” Allura shouted, frustrated.

“Wait, what? You told me you killed her,” Keith said.

“I did,” Lance replied as Allura spoke over him, “No, he didn’t!”

“Enough! Lance, my sister would be disappointed in you for even harboring the thought that what happened to her was your fault. I suggest you and Keith go on a walk up to the dragon nest. Your companion wanted to meet Blue, did he not? Allura, I need your help with some calculations for a Teludav big enough to transport a Balmera. Now, everyone, let’s finish our dinner and perform our respective tasks, hmm?” Coran suggested.

After some affirmative nods from around the table, the group returned to eating, Lance and Keith still avoiding each others’ eyes.

After dinner was over, Lance left Keith in the foyer to awkwardly hang out with Allura while he changed into some “suitable clothes”, whatever that meant.

“Keith?” Allura said, turning to look at him for the first time since Lance had left for his room.

“Yes?”

“Whatever he tells you about our mother, please know that it really wasn’t his fault. He didn’t kill her, nor was he in any way responsible for her death. Remember that.”

“I will,” Keith agreed as Lance returned, now clad in leather pants and a loose blue shirt.

“Come on. The nest should be relatively quiet, so we’ll visit Blue and then head back,” Lance said, stepping outside.

“Are we walking?” Keith asked, giving a small wave to Allura as he followed the prince, unsure how to act. Lance seemed…tense.

“No. We’re taking this,” Lance clipped, gesturing to a small hoverbike. “Climb on.”

Keith followed orders, clambering up onto the thing and gasping in wonder as a helmet appeared on his head.

“Don’t mess with the helmet. It’ll disappear once you get back off. Are you buckled in?”

Keith looked around for a lap belt of some sort, jumping slightly when Lance huffed, hopping up onto the thing next to him and pressing down on a port. A small belt popped out and Lance wrapped it around Keith’s lap, clasping it in another port on his side before turning around and assuming his own position at the front.

Keith smiled as he heard the bike start up. He’d always wanted one, but his previous owners had never even let him ride one, let alone own one. Lance brought it up off the ground and it shot forward, Keith letting out a shout of surprise and glee as he wrapped his arms around the prince in front of him for stability. He watched the world go by off to the side as his hair fluttered even under the helmet, a feeling of peace overcoming him as they rose above the castle and flew towards a mountain behind the large white building.

Lance flinched, feeling Keith’s arms wind around him as the hybrid snuggled into his back. _Dammit, why now?_ His quintessence purred, reaching for Keith’s hands through Lance’s skin. He mentally slapped it back and leaned forward, accelerating faster than he probably should have to make the ride as quick as possible before he did something he’d regret.

Lance set the bike down at the usual place, a small cave in the mountain behind the palace. He hopped off of the bike, catching Keith when he attempted to do the same and the bike moved beneath him, causing him to lose his balance.

“It did that to me the first time, too,” Lance said, setting Keith down on the ground.

“That was amazing!” Keith gushed, grinning wider than he had in years as he internally marvelled at how easily Lance had lifted him. “Can we go again?”

“After you meet Blue, we’ll be heading back to the palace on that,” Lance replied. “Now c’mon, it’s getting kinda late.”

Keith followed after the prince wordlessly, letting the Altean lead him up a winding trail. It was lit by small lanterns on either side, and Keith found himself staring at them so he wouldn’t have to look at Lance’s rigid shoulders.

“Are…”

“Hmm?” Lance grunted.

“Are you mad at me?” Keith asked quietly.

The prince abruptly stopped, causing Keith to nearly run into the back of him. He turned around to look at the hybrid, who fidgeted under the intense stare the Altean was directing towards him.

“Lance?”

“No,” Lance finally replied. “I’m mad at myself.”

And with that, the prince turned around and began marching up the hill again.

Keith stared at him questioningly. Why was the prince mad at himself? Keith was the one who’d been coming onto him so strongly, but it wasn’t his fault—that quintessence was just plain _addictive_. He was sure Lance was attracted to him as well—he’d seen the prince’s obvious arousal when Lance had healed him. The sight of it had aroused him even more than he already had been from that quintessence moving around in his body, though he’d been so scared at the time that he hadn’t realized until later that the prince’s arousal was affecting his own. So why was Lance mad at himself?

“I can practically hear you thinking,” came the prince’s voice from in front of him. “The bond is going crazy.”

“Sorry,” Keith said, though he wasn’t really. “Just wondering why you’re mad at yourself and not me.”

“Because I told you about Mom. I don’t usually do that with people I’ve just met.”

“I thought you might have been mad at me because I came on a little strong in the baths earlier,” Keith admitted. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Normally, I’d appreciate that. You’re very attractive, and I love a good flirt session,” Lance said. “I just…I don’t deserve you.”

“Why… ” Keith started before thinking better of it. This boy really was just as complicated as he was, though he’d had a full seven thousand years to build up material for angsting.

“If you tell me about your mother, I’ll let you use your quintessence on my memories,” Keith found himself offering.

Lance was silent, continuing his march up the side of the mountain. He stopped just as suddenly as he had before, Keith cursing quietly as he ran into the Altean’s back again.

“Welcome to the Caldera Nest,” Lance said as Keith walked around him to see what he’d stopped for.

“Wow,” Keith breathed as he took in the sight before him. It looked like a volcano crater, but deeper, with tall, spiky walls. Luminescent crystals lit the caldera with a soft blue glow, casting shadows behind the tall structures like trees but with larger, perfectly straight branches that stood in the middle of the crater. Near the base of the walls all around the caldera were what looked like hot spring pools, each big enough to hold… “Dragons.”

They were everywhere, circling the top of the crater, perched in the trees, basking in the pools, and roughhousing on the floor of the caldera.

“They’re not paying attention to us,” Keith observed.

“Yeah, they’re used to outsiders. I made sure of that. Yellow, Green, and Black are all out training with Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro right now. It’s why they didn’t make it to dinner. We have a dragon-rider squadron known as Team Voltron. Our official title is Paladin. They refer to us by the colors of our dragons. I’m the Blue Paladin, for example.”

“Where’s your dragon?” Keith inquired curiously.

“Probably with Red. That’s her mate.”

“Do they have actual names, or do you just call them by colors like a kid?”

Lance laughed, his face brightening for the first time since their fight. “Well, considering I was a kid when I first met them all and those are the names I called them back then, yeah. Their dragon names are unpronounceable by Terran or Altean vocal cords. I don’t think even the Galra could do it.”

“They’re all as old as you?” Keith asked incredulously.

“Well, Blue’s probably closer to Allura’s age. I bonded with her when I was a kid and found this path up here after running away from the palace. We’ve been best friends ever since. She was just a juvenile then. Well, her and Red. A couple hundred years after I met them, Green, Yellow, and Black hatched. She made them part of her family, and her ‘pack’ became Team Voltron after I brought Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge up here to meet Blue. The rest of the dragons just kind of bonded with them out of nowhere, and Pidge had the idea to make a dragon-rider squadron.”

“Can you communicate with them?”

“Yeah, they’re all telepathic,” Lance informed him. “But Blue likes it if I use her dragon name to call her whenever there’s someone new to the nest. It’s a dragon tradition to introduce yourself by your dragon name, I guess.”

“How can you call her if your vocal cords are incompatible?”

“Alteans are a chameleonic race. We can alter our bodies to match the physiology of other races,” Lance explained. “Which means I can do this.”

He tipped his head back, visibly straining, and Keith watched in awe as the shape of his vocal cords visibly changed under the tanned skin of his neck. The prince opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and let out a noise that made Keith shudder from his head to his toes.

It sounded like a roar, but more complex, with sonorous tones underlying the remaining timbre of Lance’s voice. It still sounded like him, but with an unmistakeable animalistic sound to it. Keith giggled quietly when he was able to spot Lance’s fangs peeking out from under his lip.

Lance strained again and turned to Keith, smiling at the look on his face. “You ok?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Yeah. What was that?”

“I changed my vocal cords to those of a race that can pronounce dragon names. Look, here she comes.”

Keith stared up at the stars as a dark shape blotted out some of them, getting bigger and bigger by the second. He jumped as it landed in front of Lance, raising his arms to shield his eyes from the dust it kicked up. When it had cleared, Keith lowered his arms and gasped.

Standing before his new master was the biggest dragon he’d seen so far tonight. It—she—had a large, lithe body, four muscular legs reaching to wide, strong feet on the floor of the caldera. Her wings were folded tightly against her side, but she shook them out as Lance patted her head, cooing in Altean, allowing Keith to get a good look at them. They looked beautiful, with powder-blue membrane-thin skin stretched between delicate, slightly curved blue bones.

Her neck was about as long as Lance was tall, extending gracefully from her body as she inclined her head for her rider to pet. Keith could see she had a mane that extended all the way from between the large, curved horns on the base of her skull to the small leather saddle installed on her back.

In spite of all that, the most beautiful part of her, Keith decided, had to be her color. Blue was, true to her name, _blue._ That word couldn’t even begin to describe the shades that Keith saw in her iridescent scales, which ranged from cyans as vibrant as Lance’s eyes to blue-violets as deep as Keith’s own irises.

“She’s beautiful,” Keith breathed.

Lance chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Want to come meet her?”

Keith did. He walked forward, letting Lance pull him close as the prince guided his hand to the dragon’s muzzle.

“Hi there,” Keith said, not really knowing what else to say.

He heard a chuckle in his head as Blue pushed her muzzle further into his hand. _Hello, hybrid._

“How could you tell?” Keith queried, a little embarrassed that she’d picked up on his nature so soon.

_I can feel it in your quintessence. You have quite the amount of it stored up inside of you. It looks interesting, all swirls of Galra purple and Terran green. Yours also carries a slight blue hint to it._

Keith blushed, hearing the amusement in Blue’s voice. “Yeah, we’re bonded now. Like Allura is with Shiro and his siblings.”

 _Indeed. He already has strong feelings for you, hybrid, though I sense some discord between the two of you. Not to worry. My Paladin can never keep his mouth shut for long. You will know his past soon enough._ Keith swore the dragon winked at him.

“There, now you’ve met her,” Lance said a little nervously, sensing that Blue liked Keith enough to be dangerous. “Let’s go back to the palace.”

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Blue beat him to it. She roared in the Altean’s face, blowing his hair back. Keith felt his own ruffle a little bit as he giggled at the display. Lance stayed upright, unimpressed, one white eyebrow raised.

“So we’re resorting to mental **and** vocal communication now? We gotta head back to the castle soon, I don’t have time for this. Why do you like him this much already anyway? You’ve known him for five minutes!”

Whatever Blue said next shocked Lance to the core, as evidenced by the way the beautiful tan skin of his face went pale as he let out a shout of, “ _WHAT!?_ ”

“Wait, what did she say to you? Lance?”

The blue dragon lifted her head towards the sky, ignoring her Paladin’s desperate pleas for her to wait in favor of letting out a roar more impressive than the one Keith had heard from Lance earlier.

The skies went silent after the call, both men waiting with baited breath as even the birds quieted. Then, out of the stars, Keith heard an answering call.

The hybrid watched, stunned, as another dragon landed gracefully next to Blue. This one was smaller, but no less intimidating. It looked the same as Blue but with one striking difference—its color. This dragon was bright red, skin shimmering in the moonlight with tones ranging from nearly pink to a deep merlot.

Keith stared at the new dragon, chuckling a little as it nuzzled Lance’s face, nearly knocking him over.

“Yeah, yeah, hi Red.”

“This is Red?”

“Yep. Blue just said his other name. This is her mate, and she’s called him to meet you.”

“Meet me?” Keith asked a little breathlessly. “Why?”

“Well,” Lance began a little hesitantly, “Red has been looking for a Paladin.”

“Oh ok.... Wait. WHAT?”

Keith heard a deep chuckle in his head as the red dragon turned to look at him.

_Hello, child. What is your name?_

“Keith,” the hybrid responded, still a little starstruck.

_A strong name. I am called Red by the little one._

“Watch it, Red. You’re only a couple thousand years older than me,” Lance warned.

_You will always be little to me. You were little when we met, and you are little now._

“How can you hear him? I couldn’t hear Blue when she spoke to you earlier.” Keith questioned.

“He doesn’t have a Paladin yet, so his telepathy is non-specific. I suspect he’ll have one soon, though. You’re the longest-lasting candidate yet.”

“You mean... what happened to them?”

 _There have been many who deemed themselves worthy to fly astride me,_ Red purred, sounding like he was speaking with a smirk. _They were wrong._

“Ever since I became the first Altean to bond with a dragon, a bunch of people have thought it was okay to just barge into the nest and try to ride the nearest dragon they could find. Blue grew proportionate to me, so I was able to ride her as soon as she could fly. Red here was too pretty for many of the visitors to pass up, especially as he got bigger. I tried to warn them, but I quit after a while when I realized they’d never listen to me,” Lance explained. “God, the last one was especially horrible. He was some dickwad suitor from a backwater colony somewhere in the empire. He came here to court Allura, and he thought it would impress her if he could ride the most volatile dragon up here. Fat bastard never stood a chance.”

“What happened?”

_I scorched him with my fire and ate him. The extra blubber made his meat very tender._

Keith laughed nervously, backing away a little bit.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you. Blue made him promise not to a minute ago.”

“With what leverage?!”

“Withholding sex.” Lance smirked, stroking the side of his dragon’s face.

Keith raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Ah. I see you two have that in common.”

Red let out a loud guffawing laugh in Keith’s head, making a sort of purring noise out loud as smoke blew from his nostrils. Lance went bright red, trying to hide behind his dragon, who also started making the purring noise.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hurt him,” Lance muttered just loud enough for Keith to hear.

 _I like you already, young Keith,_ Red chuckled. _How would you like to become a Paladin?_

“I…I couldn’t,” Keith insisted a little reluctantly. “I’m a teenager and half Galra to boot. I’m not even considered a person in many places.”

“Yeah, well, this isn’t many places,” Lance cut in. “I consider you a person now. Get your ass on that dragon before I have to force you up there.”

 _Not so fast, little Altean. We must bond first,_ Red reminded the prince. _Keith, place your hand upon my head._

Keith did as he was told, letting one of his hands rest palm-down right where the smaller dragon’s mane ended in the middle of his forehead.

_This may hurt if we are not compatible. Do not worry, young one. I will stop before it kills you._

With that, Red closed his eyes and Keith did so as well, more than a little nervous now that Red had said that. What was this going to be like? Would it kill him?

The answer came less than a minute later—a small tickle in his quintessence, slowly growing more and more intense until it finally crested into an intense crimson wave that overtook his whole body. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt—in fact, Lance’s quintessence was more potent than this. Still, he winced as the wave crashed back down, compressing into a small ball that contented itself to rest in the swirl of quintessence at the base of his skull.

“Congratulations,” he heard Lance say, a hint of pride in his voice. “You’ve just bonded with a dragon.”

Keith opened his eyes, blinking a little bit to clear them of remaining bleariness from the slight discomfort he’d felt earlier. “I don’t feel any different. I mean, I can feel your quintessence, but it’s not doing anything.”

_Of course it’s not, hybrid._

“Of course it’s not,” Lance said, echoing Keith’s dragon. “You’re not riding him. Among other abilities, Paladins can see through the eyes of their dragon with proper training. But you do need to ride him to complete the bond.”

“Right now?”

Keith watched, dumbstruck, as his dragon turned so that his folded left wing faced Keith. The dragon extended the wing away from his body, creating a perfect step for Keith to get up on his back.

“I—I shouldn’t, it’s been a long day and—,” Keith began, backing away slightly, but Lance interrupted him, strolling over.

“Yeah, you should.”

Lance helped him up onto the dragon, handing him a small device. “Click the button on this and it’ll make sure you don’t fall off. I’ll have Pidge make you a saddle later on, so you’ll have to use that for now.”

Keith followed orders, watching with awe as a shimmering belt wrapped itself around his waist, securing itself around the dragon’s neck as well with a small _snick_.

“Blue, do you know where the rest of the squad is?” the hybrid heard Lance ask.

 _You may hold onto my mane,_ Red told his rider. _It will not hurt me._

“Gotcha. Let’s go to them. Alright, Keith, hold on tight!”

With that, the two dragons launched themselves into the air, wings beating powerfully to keep them off the ground. Keith held on for dear life, feeling all the air leave his lungs in a rush as they rose higher and higher, until the caldera and all its occupants appeared the size of a small pond.

The wind whistled through Keith’s ears as he whooped, reaching a hand up to brush the clouds above his head.

**_What do you think?_ **

Keith jumped, not expecting to hear Lance’s voice in his head. He looked around for the prince and found him soaring not too far away, close enough that the dragons’ wings barely brushed on each beat. The prince’s eyes were glowing blue again, as were his cheek scales, giving him an ethereal look as fluffy clouds and bright stars against a midnight blue sky made for a stunning backdrop to his beauty.

“How did you do that?” he shouted back.

**_Tap into the quintessence Red gave you. It won’t deplete as long as you’re touching him. We usually wear armor when we ride that allows us to communicate, but since you don’t have that yet either, we’re gonna do this the old-fashioned way. It’s working especially well between us due to our bond._ **

“What do I do?”

**_Like I said, tap into Red’s quintessence and imagine it heading up to your brain. Put whatever message you want to send to me in it, then send it over here._ **

Keith concentrated, closing his eyes and finding that little ball of quintessence again. He pulled at it with his own quintessence until he’d retrieved a sizable amount and pushed that to the crown of his head, infusing it with his next question before he imagined sending it across to Lance.

**_You want to know how our bond works?_ **

The hybrid shrugged, pulling a bit more quintessence and sending it over. _I was never educated about it. I don’t think I ever bonded with any of my past masters either, since I never felt anything from them. I get flickers from you, though. Small bits of anger, some contentment…it seems to be getting stronger the more time we spend together._

**_It’s because of how powerful my quintessence is. I can feel emotions from you, too, though I’m sure what I get is a bit easier to read than what you get. I knew Sendak was hurting you even before I walked into that room today, and we weren’t even bonded then. If we ever bond fully, the emotions will be clearer and easier to read._ **

Keith heard a self-deprecating chuckle echo in his head and he pushed another message: _I could feel your anger before you came in. It’s why I was so scared of you at first. I thought you were coming to hurt me._

 ** _No, I came to hurt that furry purple bastard. Speaking of which, you probably won’t see a lot of me tomorrow morning._** Keith could feel the smirk in his voice. **_I have an…appointment with Sendak._**

_ Make him pay. _

Blue made a chuffing noise loud enough to be heard over the wind, speeding up.

“We’re here!” Lance shouted.

Keith squinted into the fog ahead, the wind drawing tears from his eyes as his dragon picked up speed as well. Suddenly, as if appearing out of nowhere, a mountain rose into his vision ahead. He gripped Red’s mane tighter, feeling the dragon speed up again.

_ Are we going to run into it? _

**_Kinda. Just sit tight and enjoy the ride._ **

Keith held his breath as they got closer and closer before his dragon finally threw his wings out to the side, slowing them down as he followed Blue into a small cavern in the side of the mountain, landing with a soft thud.

Keith slid off his dragon, wobbly legs nearly giving out under him as he made contact with the hard stone of the cave floor. Lance walked over, pushing him back up against Red. “Lean on the big guy, he won’t mind. He’ll help stabilize you. Now follow me and Blue, and be as quiet as you can. The other Paladins are probably meditating, which means that they’re going to be concentrating. Of course, being me, I’m going to storm in there and announce myself as loud as I possibly can, but you’re just gonna stay in the shadows until I call you out, okay?”

Keith giggled quietly, holding a hand to his mouth to further muffle the sound. “They’re used to that?”

“Oh yeah,” Lance reassured him, waving a hand in a show of nonchalance. “They’re probably going to try to kick my ass at first, but once I tell them Red has a Paladin, they should cool off.”

“Sweet,” Keith replied. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

The foursome walked in silence, their pathway lit by the subtle glow coming from crystals on the walls. They ranged in size and color, and Keith found himself wanting to grab one to take with him.

 _Do not touch the crystals, young one. They can only be removed from the wall by Altean royalty, or those with the purest of quintessence. They are a delicacy for my race, and your mate has often brought them to us,_ Red explained.

“What happens if someone else tries to pull them from the wall?”

_They explode._

“Ah,” Keith said. “Lovely.”

“Ok. We’re here,” Lance whispered, walking back to Keith and his dragon. “You two hide in that alcove over there, and when you hear me announce you, go ahead and walk in.”

“Roger that. Try not to get killed,” Keith warned good-naturedly.

Lance smiled at him, teeth glowing a little unnervingly in the light of the crystals, and strode through the archway Keith had seen when they’d stopped, dragon following suit.

“What up, bitches?” came the triumphant shout from the other room, and Keith had to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood to keep from laughing. The prince had obviously not been to Earth recently, as that phrase was one that hadn’t been used in popular culture since around the time Allura had taken Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro from it.

“Lance, you asshole, we’re trying to meditate!”

“Calm down, Pidgey, I’m not here just to be an annoyance, though I pride myself in being a great one. Speaking of which, is it just me, or did you get shorter again?”

“I don’t know, did I, _Princess_?.”

“Oof, I’ll give you that round. Guys, you’re not going to believe this.”

“You’re secretly a woman?”

“What? No! What the hell, Pidge? That was you, remember?”

“You baked me cookies?”

“Hunk, you and I both know that’s an impossibility, considering the Oven Incident of Which We Do Not Speak.”

“Point taken.”

“Lance, what is this about? I can’t come up with any possible news that could begin with, as you put it, ‘what up, bitches’?” That was Shiro’s voice, Keith knew. He didn’t recognize the others, though.

Keith heard Lance snort, sobs of laughter following soon after. “Shiro, can you say that phrase every year on my birthday please? Hearing it in your dad voice is hilarious.”

“Lance. Tell us the news before I cut off something valuable,” what was most likely the voice of Pidge threatened.

“Okay, okay. Are you ready for this? I don’t think you’re ready for this.”

“Lance!” Came the three very annoyed voices in unison, and Keith prepared to walk out.

“Alright! Damn! I’ll tell you. Red found a Paladin.”

Three gasps sounded from the room, and Keith couldn’t see the smirk on Lance’s face, but he knew damn well it was there.

“Come on out, Keith.”

The hybrid did as he was told, strolling into the room with his dragon in tow. Upon entering, he could see why they’d chosen this for meditation. There were four pillows on the ground, each with a cave opening behind them. One cave didn’t have a pillow in front of it. Three of the five openings were filled with dragons, and Keith found himself speechless as he stared at the dragon behind Shiro, which was easily the hugest one he’d seen all night.

“Paladins of Voltron—well, Hunk and Pidge, anyway—meet our newest addition: Keith, who also happens to be the Galra I adopted today.”

“He doesn’t look Galra,” a short, slight girl with short, messy brown hair and round glasses commented.

“He’s a hybrid, Pidge. Half Galra, half Terran. He’s only half Earthling though, so he’s half as weird as you two. Try not to freak him out.”

Lance got a glare for that one as the two smaller Terrans walked towards Keith, proceeding to observe him from every angle. He fidgeted uncomfortably under their staring, breathing a small sigh of relief as they reappeared in front of his face, inspection apparently done.

The bigger one extended his hand first. “Hi there. I’m Hunk. You must be the Galra that Lance so reluctantly went to the auction to save today.”

“That’s me,” Keith said, shaking his hand cautiously before turning to the girl.

“I don’t really do handshakes, sorry.” She adjusted the round glasses on her face, staring up at him. “Keith, right? I don’t see any fuzzy purple stuff. Are you sure you’re a hybrid?”

“Pidge,” Lance warned, using a stern tone that led Keith to believe he was used to stopping her in the middle of asking uncomfortable questions, “I already told you. He really is a hybrid, and he said that Sendak was using a serum to ensure that he didn’t go purple. We’re not sure when it will wear off.”

“Interesting,” the girl, or Pidge, said, adjusting her glasses again, the light glinting off of them in a nearly sinister way. “I’m Katie, but everyone just calls me Pidge. How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Keith replied, a little nervous about where this was leading.

Pidge whistled. “Damn. You’ve been through a lot for a teenager.”

“Pidge is a bit psychic,” Lance explained into Keith’s ear, a slightly guilty tone to his voice. “She’s ridiculously smart, and crazy good at reading body language. Sorry I forgot to warn you.”

“I have,” Keith stated, ignoring Lance and replying to the girl, “I won’t anymore.”

“Damn straight,” he heard the Altean prince next to him whisper as Hunk smiled, wrapping his arms around Keith in a big hug.

“Welcome to the family! Red, you can settle in next to Blue’s nook. We made a spare one way back when just in case you finally chose a Paladin.”

“I already met you this afternoon, but welcome,” Shiro said, eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Lance, I’d love to stay here and chat with everyone, but it’s been kind of a long day, and I’m exhausted,” Keith admitted, yawning behind his hand.

“Oh shit, it is really late, huh? Alright, this’ll have to wait until tomorrow, guys. Yellow, Green, Black, it was nice to see you guys today, even if it was only for a few minutes. It’s been a while!” Lance said cheerily.

The three dragons grumbled in response, the vocalization from Shiro’s dragon rumbling the cave walls just slightly. Keith waved a goodbye as he turned to follow the Altean out of the cave, their dragons trailing behind them as they chuffed their own farewells to the others.

“I’m so sorry, Keith. I didn’t even realize how late it was. God, you’ve probably been up for at least a day.”

“I’m alright, Lance.” And truthfully, Keith was alright. He and Lance might have had their fight earlier, but it had been overshadowed by the amazing feeling of flying on the back of a dragon, however brief the ride had been.

“I can hear you thinking again,” the prince mumbled from beside him. “I accept, by the way.”

“You accept what?”

“Your deal from earlier. I’ll tell you about Mom if I get to work on your memories.”

Keith felt his face go from utter shock to a wide grin as he launched himself at the prince, hugging him tightly. “Thank god. I was afraid I’d have to leave for the Galra planet if we let that stupid fight keep us from actually talking to each other.”

Lance sighed in relief as he returned the hug. “I was thinking the same thing. That’s why I accepted. I don’t think I could stand to lose you, Keith, especially not after Red chose you as his Paladin. I’m not sure I’m awake enough to tell you tonight, though.”

“It’s fine, Lance. You can tell me in the morning after you see Sendak. For now, let’s just go back to the castle and get some sleep.”

They mounted their dragons in companionable silence, Keith letting out an awed gasp as his dragon took off. Though he’d only done it twice now, it seemed most likely he’d never get used to the sudden jump into the air.

They flew back to the caldera at a slightly more leisurely pace than they had earlier, Keith skimming his hand through some of the clouds that floated mere inches from his head as his dragon rose high enough in the sky for Altea’s moons to seem close enough to touch. He couldn’t see it, but Lance watched him with an affectionate gaze, turning away when the hybrid glanced in his direction.

They landed in the caldera, Lance promising his dragon that they’d get in a proper flight tomorrow after breakfast (and after some convincing, Blue had ensured that Keith and Red would be accompanying them as well, as long as Keith had a proper saddle).

When they got to the hoverbike, Lance gestured for Keith to sit in the front with a gleam in his eye. “Wanna drive it?”

“Is that a trick question?” Keith scoffed, sitting in the front and fastening his safety belt.

He felt Lance board the bike behind him and shivered when the prince’s impossibly warm arms wrapped around his middle, the chilly night air having permeated his skin when they were hovering above the world earlier. It created a sharp contrast, and Keith found himself wanting to lean back into the embrace. Instead, he concentrated on the instructions that the prince was feeding him about how to turn on the hoverbike and pilot it.

In retrospect, perhaps Lance should have provided the hybrid with a couple of lessons before letting him drive it, considering they arrived at the castle covered in leaves and scratches from the countless treetops they’d dived into at top speed. Allura took one look and burst into laughter, her high, pealing tones echoing throughout the grand entrance of the castle.

Lance grumbled briefly at his sister in a language Keith didn’t recognize before grabbing the hybrid’s hand and leading him deeper into the castle.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are we going?” Keith inquired.

“My room. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”

“Don’t I have my own rooms?”

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Lance started, sounding a bit nervous, “I realized that my quintessence thinks that leaving you vulnerable in any state is bad news, which means that it’ll go crazy if I leave you alone while you’re sleeping. My bed is huge, and I figured since I’ve already stated that I won’t do anything to you that it would be okay for us to sleep in the same bed, but now that I say that out loud, I realize it’s a bit presumptuous and ignorant for me to think you’d be okay with that—“

“Lance,” Keith said, cutting him off. “You’re rambling. I’m okay with sleeping in the same bed, I promise. Fair warning, though—I get nightmares sometimes, so I might kick the hell out of you.”

“I can make them go away,” Lance replied, holding up his hands and letting his quintessence shine through. “I promise I won’t look at your memories.”

“Then it’s settled. Do you have a brush? I’d like to get all these leaves out of my hair before we go to bed.”

* * *

Lance awoke the next morning to find a very warm, very cuddly body wrapped around his. He attempted to move, snickering as quietly as he could as said body wrapped tighter around him, a disgruntled groan originating from somewhere around the prince’s chest.

“What time is it?” came Keith’s sleepy voice from where he was cuddled into Lance’s sternum.

“About eight. We slept in a bit. My…appointment with Sendak is at nine though, so you might want to let me go take a bath and get dressed so I can at least look nice while I make the bastard wish he was never born.”

Keith chuckled at that, slowly unwrapping his arms from around the prince. Lance laughed, pointing at the hybrid’s rather impressive bedhead as they both sat up.

“Wow. You certainly look Galra now, minus the purple.”

Keith scowled, wiping a small bit of drool from his chin. “Shut up. That’s the best I’ve slept in ages. Did I wake you up at all?”

“Yeah, I think you had a nightmare at one point, but you didn’t wake up. I got to you before you could.”

“What did you do?”

“Just used my quintessence healing. I tried not to look at what you were experiencing, but I couldn’t help but see it before I substituted the memories of flying last night.” Lance gripped the hybrid’s hands, his head hanging. “You will never be touched in a way that hurts you ever again, Keith. And I’m going to kill that bastard Sendak after Allura and Shiro pull all the information from him that they need.”

Keith kissed the white of Lance’s hair, giggling when the prince’s head shot up and a blush colored his tan cheeks. “I believe you. Now go take a bath before you’re late.”

“Ok, ok. I sent a message to Pidge and Hunk last night before we went to bed—they’ll be here in a few minutes to take you for an armor fitting, so you’ll likely leave before I do. I’m going to go take my bath. I’ll see you later today, ok?”

This time it was Keith’s turn to blush as Lance pressed a kiss to each of the palms of his hands before sweeping out of the room, whistling quietly as he headed down the hall. Keith hopped off the bed and walked over to the closet with purple glass in the doors, rightly assuming it was his.

He opened it and was surprised to find a few Earth styles mixed in with the classic Galran robes. Knowing Lance would get a kick of him refusing to wear the robes and be a demure servant, Keith proceeded to pick the best outfit he found—a grey v-neck t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and a cropped red and white leather jacket. He also found a pair of fingerless gloves amongst the clothes similar to the ones Lance had worn for dragon-riding last night and slipped them on, relishing in the feel of the smooth cloth against his hands as he fastened the velcro (how old were these, anyway?) at the wrist.

A knock sounded at the door, startling Keith out of his thorough inspection of the Galra clothes closet, still wondering why there were so many revealing outfits if Lance didn’t intend to sleep with him as he wandered to the door and opened it.

“Morning Keith! Wow, those clothes are Earth style like ours! That’s awesome!”

“Thanks, Hunk,” Keith said, a little embarrassed at the guy’s enthusiasm.

“That shirt and those jeans will make it so you don’t have to take your clothes off for the armor fitting,” Pidge commented, adjusting her glasses. “Good choice. Although the jacket seems a bit much.”

Keith blushed slightly at that, fiddling with one of the sleeves. “I figured Lance would like it. He seems to have a thing for leather, judging by his outfit yesterday.”

Pidge threw her head back and laughed in the most expressive act he’d seen from her yet, slapping her hand against her knee. “Ha! He doesn’t like to admit it, but he totally has a thing for leather! I’m proud of you for finding it out so soon!”

“You’ll have to excuse my sister,” Hunk cut in a little embarrassedly, slapping a hand over Pidge’s mouth. “She doesn’t have a filter.”

“Neither does Lance,” Keith replied.

That set off another round of laughing from Pidge as the trio left the room.

“So, you and Lance slept in the same bed last night, huh?” Pidge asked, a gleam in her eye as she walked down the hallway.

“Nothing happened,” Keith dismissed, rolling his eyes. “He won’t touch me.”

“Lance? Ladies and gentlemen’s man extraordinaire, playboy of the ages, slept in the same bed as a gorgeous Galra hybrid last night and didn’t touch him once? What is this world coming to?”

“Knock it off, Katie,” Hunk scolded, turning to speak to a visibly baffled Keith. “You look confused.”

“Lance said he was a virgin, so how can he be a ladies man?”

Hunk laughed. “You’re completely right. He just likes to flirt—it’s part of his job description as Prince of the Altean Empire. We would never have gotten some of our alliances if it weren’t for Lance smooth-talking the kings’ daughters into wanting to marry him. Instead, we pawn them off on the royal family’s many, many cousins because Lance can’t marry yet and Allura is already pretty much spoken for by Shiro.”

“Why can’t Lance marry?”

“His quintessence. It’s the purest they’ve ever seen, so they want to conserve it. Which is bullshit, because Lance has an unlimited supply. Which he’s probably already explained to you.” Pidge explained.

“Yeah, he said that was why he wasn’t allowed to have sex.”

“It’s not that Lance isn’t allowed to,” Pidge said. “It’s that he won’t. His quintessence is so pure that he’d get any girl he slept with pregnant, and homosexuality, in terms of marital civil agreements, is still considered taboo in the Altean royal family, though it’s legal in the Empire. Neither Alfor nor Coran would care, but the Druids certainly would.”

“That and anyone he slept with would be at risk of an overload,” Hunk added.

“You two seem to know a lot about this,” Keith observed.

“Well, yeah. Who do you think he comes crying to when he misses out on the fertility festival each year?” Pidge questioned.

“Fertility festival?”

“It’s coming up, actually,” Hunk said. “It’s a week-long heightening of Altean’s mating drives, beginning with the Running, since the hormones get unbearable during the first two days. Basically, you can choose to be either a Runner or a Hunter. Runners head into the woods outside of the city at dusk. They get a few hours head start so they they can fortify themselves and prepare for mating. Hunters are allowed in a few hours later to catch and have sex with their future mates.”

Keith was horrified. “Isn’t that rape?”

Pidge and Hunk both glanced at the look on his face, realizing that this was a serious issue for the hybrid.

“No, no, not even close,” Hunk assured him. “Everyone is completely sane, conscious, and in control when they do this. The hormones only heighten their physical senses, mostly their sex drive and their sense of other people’s hormones in the air. It doesn’t make them go blind with horniness or anything. They’re still conscious, consenting adults. Even if you participate as a Runner, you can reject all the Hunters who find you and by law, they have to leave you alone. There are spells cast to ensure that no sexual activity can take place until verbal consent is given. If at any time one party withdraws consent, the other party must stop or face the wrath of the protection spells.”

“Lance isn’t allowed to participate like Allura and Shiro are, so he has to sit in his room and jack off for a week,” Pidge said. “He gets so goddamn grumpy every time, too.”

“He could do it with me,” Keith grumbled, “but he’s insisted he doesn’t want to hurt me.”

“He’s not wrong to be worried. It’s highly likely that his pure quintessence would fry your receptors,” Pidge chimed in, voice thoughtful. “I could try and work something out to prevent that, though, if you wanted to give him a chance to do it.”

“Lance has been wanting to participate in the Running for millennia,” Hunk agreed. “If you signed up as a Runner and we got him to sign up as a Hunter, I’m sure his quintessence would lead him right to you.”

“Then wham, bam, thank-you-ma’am, you nail your prince,” Pidge finished.

“Thanks for the idea, guys, but I don’t want to force Lance into it. I’d rather do it here and have him completely on board with the idea, even if it’s during the week of the Running.”

“Well, you don’t have long to convince him. The Running is three weeks away.”

“That’s almost a month! Hell, I’ll probably be able to turn back into a Galra by then, and sex usually sets that transformation off, though it was generally because I didn’t want it…what if he doesn’t like it when I turn purple and get fuzzy?” Keith queried nervously.

Pidge nudged his elbow, a shit-eating grin on her face. “There’s nothing to worry about, Keith. You already know Lance has a thing for leather, but did you happen to know he also has a thing for fur?”

Hunk laughed at the look on Keith’s face, turning the corner to their destination.

The trio arrived in the armor room, Keith now feeling much more confident about his chances of getting Lance to have sex with him, especially during the Running. He strolled forward, instantly drawn to the tall glass case with a set of red and white armor suspended in it.

“We might not actually have to make any adjustments,” Pidge commented, pressing the buttons to bring the armor out of the case. “It looks like you’re just small enough to fit.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, you’re shorter than I am,” Keith teased good-naturedly, stepping forward to grab the armor as the glass receded into the ceiling.

“You put the carbon fiber undersuit on first. It’s like a jumpsuit, basically, with a zipper. Then you snap the armor on top of it,” Hunk explained easily. “So you can go ahead and put it on over your jeans and your shirt, and then we’ll take some measurements to make sure it fits you. Then, we’ll put ours on and we’ll head out and do some training exercises with you and Red!”

“I’ve been keeping a spare saddle in case mine breaks, but I can give it to you since Red and Green are basically the same size,” Pidge said. “You’ll have all the dragon rider perks today!”

“Thanks, guys,” Keith said, discarding his jacket and fumbling for the zipper of the carbon fiber suit. “I hope Lance is doing okay.”

“Oh, he probably just got to the so-called meeting. Allura and Shiro have been with Sendak pretty much since the break of dawn, so I’m sure they got all the information they needed. Lance is probably going to be in there for a while,” Pidge replied. “He is going to wreck that sick son of a bitch.”

“I know, he told me,” Keith said, struggling to get the breastplate over his head.

“I don’t think you know the full story, though,” Hunk began, helping the hybrid get the top part of his armor into place. “Lance dislikes the idea of Companions, and he hates the Galra trade. He always has. He thinks it’s inhumane and unfair to the Galra. It’s why he helped set up the new Galra planet in the first place. He didn’t even want to go to your auction, but his dad and Allura forced him. When he saw Sendak mistreating you, his quintessence went crazy. Both times. And after Allura tells him everything Sendak has done to the Galra…”

“Trust me. Sendak is going to wish Allura and Shiro would have killed him before Lance came,” Pidge ended solemnly.

“He really does care about me already, doesn’t he,” Keith mused, admiring his newly-armored form in the tall mirror on the wall.

“It’s Lance,” Hunk said, drawing up a virtual tape measure and scanning Keith’s body. “He cares about everyone the minute he meets them. It’s either a weakness or a strength, depending on your standpoint.”

“Your armor fits almost perfectly. All we need to do is a small adjustment to the chestplate, and you’ll be good to go!”

“Ready to leave?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah. Should I say goodbye to Lance before we head out?”

“Oh hell no,” Pidge said assertively, heading towards the case her armor resided in. “If you thought he was worked up when he found you, you really won’t like him now. I think it’ll be best to see him after he’s calmed down a bit. Allura and Shiro will handle him.”

“If you say so,” Keith agreed reluctantly, his mind wandering to the prince. Would Lance kill Sendak if the Galra auctioneer mentioned all he’d done to Keith after he’d injected him with the serum? “I hope Sendak tells Lance everything he did to me.”

“That would piss Lance off to the point of possibly ripping Sendak’s head off with his bare hands,” Pidge answered. “He’d never see the light of day again.”

“Good,” Keith said with relish, eyes gaining a slight yellow tint. “I hope Lance ends his miserable existence.”

Pidge laughed, throwing her head back. “I like you, Keith. I think you’ll get along nicely here.”

“I think so, too,” Keith replied happily.

“Ready to head out, you two maniacs?”

“Indeed we are, big guy.”

“Don’t call me that, Gremlin.”

* * *

On the other side of the castle, about five minutes earlier, Lance took a deep breath as he prepared to walk into the brig. Allura and Shiro had been with Sendak for a while, judging by the message he received from her not too long after he’d calmed Keith’s nightmare. He’d gotten another message right as he got out of the bath letting him know they were ready for him.

Lance assumed that meant they’d gleaned all the information they could from the bastard and were now handing him over to Lance for torture reasons. His eyes glowed red at the thought, a maniacal grin spreading across his face.

Of course, that was what Shiro opened the door to, a loud exclamation of “Fuck!” leaving his mouth as he fell over backwards and landed on his ass, startled by the murderous-looking Altean prince seemingly appearing out of nowhere from behind the door.

Lance laughed, eyes going back to their normal gorgeous blue as he helped his friend up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I think even if I hadn’t opened the door to that look, I would have shit my pants seeing it anyway. Jesus, you looked about ready to kill someone.”

“Is it that obvious?” Lance asked sarcastically.

“Kind of. In all seriousness, Allura and I got everything out of him that we could. We’ve been able to organize the shutdowns of a ton of illegal Galra auctions both here on Altea Prime and on other planets, and with his dirt on the men who run most of the illegal auctions, we’ll be making lots of arrests in the next few months. He’s all yours,” Shiro deferred, stepping aside so Lance could enter the room.

“Lance! Hello,” Allura said, as bubbly as could be for someone who’d just spent an entire morning torturing someone.

“Hey sis,” Lance replied, glancing over her shoulder at the beaten-looking Galra who sat slumped in a chair, forearms tied to the armrests with electronic cuffs. “He ready for me?”

“Indeed he is,” Allura said.

Sendak’s head shot up, glaring around the room as a sneer spread across his face. When he caught sight of Lance, he paled as much as one with a face of purple hair could, eye going wide as he struggled against his bonds. “Why is he here?!”

“Oh, didn’t you know?” Allura asked sarcastically, her tone going from amicable to ice cold. “He’s your next appointment!”

Sendak’s yellow eye widened impossibly further as he struggled more vigorously against the cuffs keeping his hands bound to the chair. “No! You can’t keep me here! I have rights as a prisoner!”

“Not anymore, you purple bastard,” Lance stated, taking off his royal cape and handing it to Shiro, who took it without hesitation. “You’re an unclaimed Galra. By your standards, I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with you.”

The prince cracked his knuckles and stepped forward, the door closing behind him as Allura and Shiro made their escape.

“Sometimes I forget how terrifying Lance can be when he’s angry,” Allura admitted once they got into the hallway.

“Don’t have to tell me twice. I opened the door earlier and found him with red eyes and the creepiest grin I’ve ever seen on his face. He looked like he was going to kill me.”

“Hopefully he’ll be able to take all that anger out on Sendak so Keith doesn’t end up in the crossfire.”

Shiro chuckled, lightly patting his princess’ shoulder. “I don’t think we ever need to worry about Lance hurting Keith, Princess. From what I’ve already seen, it looks like we’ll be seeing Keith around here for a while. An eternity, perhaps.”

Allura clapped her hands together happily, a smug look crossing her face. “I _knew_ it was a good idea to go to that auction!”

“I’m going to go flying with the rest of Team Voltron and get Keith used to flying in formation. You stay here and make sure your brother doesn’t go too crazy.”

“I’m not sure I could stop him if he actually went on a rampage,” Allura admitted. “But I will try my best.”

Back in the room they’d just left, Lance slowly stalked towards Sendak, eyes getting redder and redder by the second as he growled, “I should kill you right now.”

“No, no, please!” Sendak pleaded, trying in vain to free himself. “I know things! I know where Zarkon is! I know where Haxus is!”

“You already told Allura and Shiro where Zarkon was, but I know where Haxus is,” Lance said, disinterest coloring his tone as he examined his nails, using his chameleonic ability to grow them out to razor sharp points. “Dead.”

“Haxus isn’t dead,” Sendak scoffed. “I just met him on Arus. We captured some Galra together and he told me the schedules and locations for all the next Galra auctions.”

“How do you think we knew that the auction you were running was happening, much less where it was and how to get in?” Lance asked, enjoying the look of panic that crossed the Galra’s face. “I ripped his heart out with my bare hands after torturing him for locations. Did you know he had a thing for little girls? Well, my friend followed him into a bar and he followed her back out. She looks younger than she is, you know. When he came out and started saying things like how he couldn’t wait to bed her, how he bet she’d scream real pretty, I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“You’re lying,” Sendak denied. “You’re not strong enough to kill someone like that.”

Lance shot forward, razor sharp claws around Sendak’s neck faster than the Galra could blink as he snarled, “You really wanna test that theory? Hmm?”

“No, no no nononono,” the Galra pleaded. Lance backed off, walking over to the cabinet he knew contained certain…items of persuasion. Picking up a pair of large clippers, he turned back to the Galra in front of him, clicking them together.

“How’d you like to lose a couple of toes?”

“Why are you doing this?! I already told that stupid bitch and her human pet everything! There’s nothing more you can get from me!”

“Wrong,” Lance said definitively. “I can get the satisfaction of the look on your face, the sound of your screams for help, as I inflict upon you the pain you inflicted on my hybrid.”

Sendak stared at him for a second. When realization dawned, he threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing harshly off the walls of the prison cell. “I should have known that was you. This is about that useless hybrid? There are thousands like him out there! Well, not Terrran-Galra, but similar! You can just buy a replacement after you use him for what he’s meant for!”

Lance dropped the clippers and ran forward, so fast he became a blur, and snapped one of the Galra’s fingers, looking on disinterestedly as Sendak writhed in the chair, screaming in pain. The scream turned into more laughter, driving Lance further into his rage.

“You actually think he’s capable of acting like a civilized being? Ha! He did this to my eye the first time I so graciously tried to feed him! He goes savage every time you try to fuck him, but you wouldn’t know, would you? You’ve probably already gotten him to submit, with that insane quintessence of yours. Just you wait, Prince,” the Galra sneered derisively, “once the serum I gave him wears off, he’ll fight you like he did with me. Just wait, though. Once his mating season comes around…he’ll be _begging_ you to fuck that tight little hole of his.”

Lance stared at him for a second, pupils still red. Then, fast as lightning, the prince ripped the Galran prisoner’s genitals off, claws slicing just as easily through flesh as they did through the thin cloth pants protecting it. He tossed the abhorrent thing away before turning back to his prisoner. As Sendak screamed in agony, the prince lengthened his canines and bit clean through the Galra’s throat, cutting off the scream and making him gurgle. Lance viciously ripped his throat out before spitting the lump of flesh out disgustedly, closing his eyes to avoid getting blood in them as the shredded jugular in front of him sprayed to the tempo of the prisoner’s still-beating heart.

“Lance! Are you okay?” Allura exclaimed as she burst into the room, having heard screams from outside the door. Her mouth dropped open as she saw her brother standing in the middle of the room, his snowy-white hair tinged with the red of Sendak’s lifeblood. His eyes matched the morbid red color he wore, the same color also decorating the walls and floor of the room around him, as well as his face. Bits of flesh clung to his lips as he stared detachedly at the twitching corpse before him.

“Mother of all quiznak, Lance, what have you done?” Allura sounded like she was going to faint, which was no wonder—she hated the sight of blood.

“Rid this universe of a piece of scum that did not deserve to live any longer,” Lance replied, scarily calm. He stared at the blood covering him curiously, examining with great detail the rivulets that dripped down to the floor from his tunic. “I’m going to need another bath.”

“Damn right you are. You will not greet Keith looking like that,” Allura decided, grabbing her brother’s bloody hand and leading him out of the room. “My bathing quarters are nearer to this room than yours. Clean up there and come find me in the throne room. I wish to speak to you about Keith.”

Lance numbly followed orders, bathing in Allura’s fruity-smelling bath with her floral soap without complaint. He scrubbed the blood out of his hair, the water around him gaining a slight pink tinge that had nothing to do with the juniberry bath salts his sister preferred.

Blood-free but still numb, Lance joined his sister in the throne room.

“Oh, Lance,” Allura said fondly, noticing him staring blankly at the floor, mind somewhere far away. “Come here.”

She wrapped her arms around him, sensing tears were about to come. Her prediction was correct, and the shoulder of her dress began to feel rather wet as they sank to the floor together, her brother sobbing his heart out into her shoulder.

“I fucked up, Allura. I thought I could control myself, thought I could make his life a living hell and then send him off to a labor camp, but when he started to mention Keith… my quintessence went crazy. I broke his finger as a warning, but then he went further, and I fucking ripped his dick off before going in for the kill. I mean, quiznak, I could have been happy with castrating him slowly and then sending him off, but I fucking destroyed him, Allura. I’m sure you found that out when you cleaned up, since you didn’t really look closely at him when you found me in there.”

Allura shook her head, rubbing her brother’s back as the tears kept flowing, though the gasping sobs had stopped when he’d began talking. “I didn’t—couldn’t—clean it up. Ulaz volunteered. He wanted to see what you’d done to the bastard. He and a couple of other Galra who had been under Sendak before cleaned up the room and the body. It’s most likely in the incinerator now.”

“I’ll be sure to thank him. Oh, fuck, what is Keith going to think?” Lance asked, panicking. “I told him I wouldn’t do that kind of thing anymore, but I did. Even if I don’t tell him, I’m sure Ulaz will.”

“Honestly, from what I’ve seen of Keith so far, he probably would have enjoyed seeing you do it. In fact, he probably would have fought you for the right to do it himself,” Allura admitted reassuringly, petting Lance’s hair.

Lance chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. “Thanks, ‘llura. You always seem to know what to say. Mom used to do that when I’d cry as a baby. You remind me so much of her.”

Allura felt her own eyes begin to water, tears starting to fall at the confession. “Thank you, Lance. That means the world to me. I hope someday you’ll realize that our mother wasn’t your fault.”

“I promised Keith I’d tell him about that,” Lance admitted. “Speaking of, where is he?”

“His armor actually fit very well, according to Hunk, so they grabbed one of Pidge’s spare saddles for Green and went out to fly formations. Shiro is with them on Black, and I think he might have gotten Blue to just fly the formation without you.”

“I think I’ll go join them. It’ll help clear my head.”

“Are you sure you’re in the right mind to do the link with the rest of Team Voltron? You could ruin their mindspace,” Allura warned.

“I won’t put my helmet on. I’ll just stick to the old-fashioned word-only telepathic links. I’m the best at using them anyway.”

“I suppose you can go out, then. Please be careful, and tell Keith about our mother when you get the chance.”

“Sure, ‘llura,” Lance agreed, heading to the door and grabbing the hoverbike keys from the board on the wall. “I’ll be back soon.”

Allura sighed, watching his retreating form.

“That hybrid has already made such a difference in Lance,” Coran said from behind Allura, making her jump.

“Ah, Uncle, I didn’t see you there. He has, hasn’t he?”

“I can tell he’ll be here for a long time,” Allura’s uncle said, winking as he walked out of the room. The princess shook her head, remembering that Shiro had said that same thing earlier. It seemed the entire castle was under the consensus that Keith was going to be a permanent fixture in the halls of the Castle of Lions.

* * *

Lance relished in the feeling of the air flowing across his face as he flew to the Caldera Nest, forgoing a helmet in favor of helping himself cool off and clear his head. He’d left his armor behind in the castle as well, keeping his promise to Allura not to corrupt the mind-link the team used when fighting their battles in unison. Besides, his hair was still wet from the bath and helmet hair was not a good look on anyone, Altean prince or not. Windblown, he could do.

He parked the hoverbike in the same spot he’d put it the previous day, patting it lovingly before making the hike up to the nest. He could feel Blue’s elation radiating from somewhere in the skies above starting to affect his own gloomy mood, and he allowed a small smile as he started on the final steps of the trail.

When Lance reached the Caldera, he wasn’t surprised to see what looked like fireworks in the bright daylight of the sky above—the Paladins were most likely attacking dummy targets with their dragons, letting Keith get a feel for what each one could do.

A green flash signaled Pidge and Green firing their beam of pure growth, probably creating targets for the rest of the team to shoot at. Yellow was Hunk’s dragon using the powerful gun-like bursts of energy that could make anything explode. Purple meant Shiro’s dragon had made a void-portal. The ability was incredible, and the dragon could decide where the portal went. They’d used it to sneak in and out of Klaak bases undetected before. Used offensively, it could sweep any number of enemies up and teleport them to the void of space, where they’d die in a matter of minutes. Defensively, it could reflect bullets or any amount of energy-weapon ammo fired at it back onto the target.

Lance was proud to see blue flashes, signifying that his own beautiful dragon was creating the thick, harder-than-diamond ice that he’d been so fascinated with as a child. They were followed by bright red, which Lance knew to be Keith and Red shooting flames and streams of hot lava into the clouds.

Lance could hear the Paladins laughing, Pidge shrieking in delight after a bright red flash followed a green. His smile fell to a frown as he realized they were having fun without his presence.

“Ah… they probably don’t need me up there,” Lance mused sadly, discouraged, before turning to leave. “I’d be a useless fifth wheel.”

 _Oh, no you don’t_ was all the warning the prince got before he was lifted into the air with a yelp, the back of his shirt enclosed in his dragon’s mouth. She flung him backwards onto her back, his hands scrabbling for purchase and finally landing onto her saddle as he pulled himself into a proper riding position, scowling.

“Really? You just had to have me there, didn’t you?” Lance scolded with no real heat, settling into a comfortable spot on his dragon’s back as she climbed to the heavens, each beat of her powerful wings propelling her closer and closer to the brightly-colored flashes above.

_Of course. They have been waiting for you. Yellow’s Paladin was even considering heading to the castle to find you. They wish to try to fight in Unison._

Lance smiled sadly, patting his dragon’s neck. “Sorry Blue, that’s going to be a no-go. I don’t have my armor on. You can look in my head to see why.”

_…Stars above. You certainly didn’t hold back, did you? Red would be proud._

“I’m not really proud of myself for it. He didn’t deserve it to that degree.”

_From what my mate has told me of the things he has seen in the young hybrid’s memories, he did indeed deserve exactly what you enacted upon him, if not a harsher punishment._

“What’s harsher than that?”

_Making him eat his detached loins, and then ripping his throat out once you were sure he had swallowed it all._

Lance chuckled. “Quiznak, Blue. Sometimes I forget how bloodthirsty you can get.”

_The bloodthirstiness of a dragon is reflected in their Paladin, and often times the other way around. I cannot help feeling like this after your experience earlier this morning. Would you like me to inform the others?_

“Nah, I’ll tell them. Honestly, I’m just glad the taste is finally out of my mouth. I don’t think they’d appreciate seeing Sendak chunks in my teeth.”

_Very well. We are here._

Lance looked around, seeing the other dragons and their Paladins flying in tight formation, hovering in one spot. They were ready to go for a Unison flight.

**_Sorry, guys. I didn’t bring my armor up here, so we won’t be able to fight in Unison today. We can try a couple of other exercises, though._ **

**_ That’s understandable, Lance. I’m sure your revenge on Sendak was something the rest of us wouldn’t like to experience. _ **

Lance chuckled dryly, knowing the others would hear it. **_You’re definitely right, Shiro. I’ll tell you all what I did later. I don’t want it to ruin the flight._**

**What did you do?**

Hunk, I don’t think he wants to talk about it. But seriously, Lance, if you do want to talk about it, tell us what you did to him!

**_Pidge, I know you enjoy tormenting me, but can you please drop it for now? I don’t really want to talk about it._ **

_ Are you okay, Lance? You seem kind of shaken up. _

**_I’m alright, Keith. I was a little surprised at what I was capable of this morning, and what I did to him. Like I said, I’ll tell you all what happened when we land back in the Caldera._ **

**Nah, don’t wait for that. We were all headed over to the Crystal Cave to meditate after we’d shown Keith what our dragons could do, so you can tell us there, buddy.**

**_ Hunk, don’t press the issue. _ **

**_It’s ok, Shiro. I just didn’t want to have to do it over the link in case I accidentally sent some bad mental images. Let’s go to the cave and I’ll tell you all about it._ **

The dragons, sensing their Paladins’ desired destination, automatically assumed their normal formation, Keith and Red replacing Pidge and Green’s place at Shiro and Black’s left side. Lance fell in behind his hybrid, elation beginning to seep into him at the wind on his face, the sight of a Red Paladin finally being in the group, and the exhilaration of flying.

They all landed in the cave much the same way Lance and Keith had landed the day before. Shiro, Pidge, Hunk and their dragons all headed first into the cave while Lance showed Keith how he pulled crystals out of the wall for their dragons to eat as a treat.

Lance proceeded into the meditation room, tossing a crystal to each dragon tucked into the nooks behind their respective Paladins.

“So, Lance, spill. What did you do to Sendak?” Pidge asked, always the subtle one.

The prince took a deep breath, smiling as his dragon sent a nudge of reassurance into their bonded quintessence.

“Well, first I scared the hell out of Shiro by standing outside the door.”

Shiro chuckled. “Yeah, I thought I was going to die there. Thankfully you went back to your normal self.”

Lance shook his head. “Not for long. Once you and ‘Lura left, I went kinda crazy. I told him about the time I ripped Haxus’s heart out.”

“You did that?” Keith asked, eyes going wide with shock. “I’d heard whispers from the others that he was dead, but I didn’t know it was real.”

“Yeah, that was him alright,” Pidge said. “He did it because Haxus was saying some pretty fucked up stuff about what he wanted to do to me after I followed him into a bar dressed as a young girl.”

Keith chuckled nervously. Lance’s protective instincts certainly weren’t something to be taken lightly.

“So anyway, once Sendak found out about that, he started teasing me about me torturing him. I told him I wanted to inflict on him all the pain he’d inflicted on you, Keith. He laughed. So I broke his finger.”

“Jesus, Lance. It usually takes much longer for you to snap to that degree, no pun intended,” Hunk interjected.

“Yeah. That wasn’t even the worst part. He kept laughing, even through the pain, and told me all about how you were replaceable, how I should just force you to submit, and how your mating season was going to affect me. He also suggested I throw you away once I’d used you to my satisfaction,” Lance explained, growling the last sentence as his eyes began to flicker red again. “So I ripped his dick off, let him scream for a minute, and then bit his throat out. That was how Allura found me when she opened the door—covered head to toe in blood, a throatless, dickless corpse twitching in front of me and the remnants of Sendak’s windpipe still lodged in my teeth.”

“Fuck,” Hunk said eloquently, a rare vocalization from one so pure-hearted. “You really went all out on him.”

“I swear, I was just going to rip off a couple fingers or something and send him to work in a labor camp on one of our prison planets. Instead, I fucking murdered him in cold blood. The worst part was, I enjoyed it. I’ve never felt anything like I did when I ripped his throat out. My quintessence was practically vibrating inside of me, wanting me to rip him up even worse than I did,” Lance admitted. “It scared the hell out of me.”

The prince pulled his knees to his chest and hugged them as he recalled that feeling. The utter satisfaction of the blood pouring onto him, the taste of flesh in his mouth causing the bloodthirstiness to gain strength within him. He was pulled out of his murderous thoughts by the Galra hybrid sitting next to him, who’d put his hand (now gloveless) on Lance’s arm.

“Honestly, I’m not scared of you at all. I know the others are pretty much speechless right now, but I actually wish I could have been there to see you do it. That bastard deserved much more than what he got, in my opinion.”

“Blue agrees with you. She wanted me to feed him his dick before killing him.”

That drove a startled guffaw from Pidge, whose mouth had been dropped open in shock this whole time. “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, Lance. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

The prince grasped Keith’s hand, squeezing reassuringly as he said, “As long as you don’t seriously harm Keith, I think me and my quintessence will be okay with you.”

“What are you going to do now?” Hunk asked. “About the auctions and stuff, I mean.”

“Well, Shiro and ‘Lura got quite a bit of information from him, so I’d say let’s take our dragons out and shut down a few auctions on some planets in the system,” Lance suggested.

“I agree. There aren’t any happening for a little while, at least until after the fertility festival. Most of us will be occupied during that anyway,” Shiro said, blushing slightly.

Keith watched amusedly as Lance’s face fell into a pout. Shiro had obviously hit a sore spot.

“Oh, quit it Lance. You’ve got Keith now, you know.”

“Shut up, Pidge,” Lance grumbled, crossing his arms. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

“You won’t. I’ve been going through a few chemical combinations that will protect Keith from the full brunt of your quintessence without making it so he doesn’t feel it at all, and I think I can make a serum that would allow you two to get down and dirty without worrying about Keith dying of a quintessence overdose,” Pidge explained easily, adjusting her glasses with a glint.

Lance went bright red and Keith couldn’t help it—he started laughing, Hunk following suit. Even Shiro let out a chuckle.

Lance stood, disgruntled. “You’re horrible friends. I’m going back to the castle if you’re going to be like this.”

“Oh, don’t leave!” Keith protested, grabbing Lance’s arm. “I’m excited about this. It means we can get closer.”

“Not so fast there, Keith. I still have to actually mix the chemicals together and test them. It’ll take a few weeks before I’ll be able to run tests with you and Lance’s DNA.”

“I’ll save it for the Running then.”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “You actually want to do the Running with me? I thought Pidge was just joking!”

“Hunk and Pidge said you’ve never done it,” Keith said, trying for nonchalance as his inner self jumped for joy. “I figured you’d want to do it with me.”

Lance smiled, lifting Keith easily into a hug and spinning him around. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Keith!”

Keith wobbled a bit upon being set gently down, steadying himself with a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing.”

Lance turned around and began chattering excitedly to Shiro, completely missing Pidge and Hunk turning to Keith and mouthing in perfect unison, “it’s not nothing!” The “and you damn well know it” was implied perfectly well.

Keith was too busy trying to come up with a sarcastic response to pay attention, so it was no surprise that he jumped as Lance grabbed his hand.

“C’mon, Keith. I made a promise and I fully intend to follow through. Let’s head back to the castle.”

“What promise?” Pidge asked, smirking.

“Not what you’re thinking, you gremlin. I told him I’d tell him about Mom.”

“Take Blue back with you,” Shiro suggested. “You two can ride her together, then she can fly back so the dragons can practice their Unison link.”

“Sure, Shiro,” Lance agreed. “C’mon, Blue.”

_I’ll meet you outside the cave in a few minutes. I must speak with my mate._

“Alright. Let’s go, Keith.”

With that, the prince and the hybrid made their exit.

Keith stared at the Altean prince leading him through the crystal tunnels in awe, following without protest. “You’re actually going to tell me? You were all angsty about it yesterday.”

“After what happened this morning, I need a distraction,” Lance said quietly. “Telling you about Mom is the best way to do that.”

“Lance…” Keith trailed off, stopping just inside the cave mouth, “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, especially not if you’re going to use it as a distraction.”

“I know that,” Lance said. “I promise, I really do want to tell you about Mom. It’s a plus that it’ll help get Sendak’s corpse off my mind.”

“I still wish I’d been there to help you do that to him,” Keith grumbled.

Lance laughed easily, looking up at the sky. The suns were a few hours from setting, but one of Altea’s moons was already floating away amongst the clouds.

“It really is gorgeous,” Keith said, looking up at the sky with him. “Earth’s sky is like this too. It only has one sun and one moon though.”

“I know,” Lance replied. “I have been there, you know.”

“A very long time ago.”

“Very true.”

The pair stared up at the sky in silence for a little while before Keith finally spoke again.

“What did your mom look like?”

“Allura,” Lance answered, and all was silent again.

Blue joined them a few minutes later, silently walking in between them as if she’d read the atmosphere.

_Come, young ones. It may still be light but it won’t be that way for long. Lance, you can ride slightly ahead of my saddle while Keith may ride in the saddle._

“Gotcha. Keith, she wants you in the saddle and me up front,” Lance said, folding his hands together to make a step for the hybrid.

“Won’t you fall off?” Keith asked, stepping up and assuming his place on Blue’s saddle.

Lance waved one of the devices he’d handed Keith yesterday in the air, easily hopping up to sit in front of the hybrid and activating it, ensuring that he wouldn’t fall.

They took off, climbing slowly into the air as Blue beat her powerful wings.

“Are you okay, Blue? You’re working a bit harder than normal,” Lance queried.

_I am alright. I am not used to carrying two Paladins at once. Your hybrid is light enough, however, that it is not as much of an exertion as it would be if say, Yellow’s Paladin were riding with us._

“Yeah, Hunk’s not the lightest guy. I still think you could do it, though.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“What did Blue say?”

“Oh, she’s fine. She was just saying that she’d be having a harder time with this if Hunk were sitting where you’re sitting.”

Keith laughed. “You’re right, he is a big guy. There’s nothing wrong with that, though.”

“There most certainly isn’t. That guy gives the best damn hugs this side of the Andromeda.”

“Can I drive the hoverbike back to the castle again?”

“That might not be the best idea,” Lance said, chuckling. “I seem to recall a little someone being rather miffed at the sheer quantity of leaves that were in his hair the last time he attempted to be a hoverbike driver.”

“I’ll be better at it this time, I promise. Please?” Keith pleaded.

Lance shook his head. If he was this weak to the hybrid’s words now, how would it be thousands of years from now? “Fine. But no crazy tree explorations this time, ok?”

“Sure,” Keith said, giggling a little bit. He really did have Lance wrapped around his finger.

* * *

Their second Keith-driven hovercraft ride back to the castle went slightly better, but they still ended up in a tree after Keith had turned around to gloat at Lance for making it most of the way back to the castle without hitting anything.

Lance tried in vain to stifle a laugh at the look on the hybrid’s face when they got back to the castle and he found yet another small bush’s worth of leaves in his hair. They’d stopped by the armor room to store Keith’s armor before heading to their room. The grumbling and the angry hair-combing were combining into a rather cute version of Keith, and Lance was thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

“Stop laughing at me,” Keith growled for the fifth time, angrily pulling the brush through his slightly green hair.

“Sorry,” Lance said through giggles. “I can’t help it.”

“You know, you could help.”

“Sure, sure,” Lance agreed, stepping forward and sliding his fingers through the hybrid’s silky hair, pulling assorted foliage from the glistening strands. “Your hair really is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Keith said, brushing the other side now. “I haven’t really seen it like this since the last time I was adopted and they let me have a bath and a brush. Even then, it wasn’t this nice.”

“Yeah, well, if your hair ever gets as ratty as it was when I got you, I swear to you I will wash it and brush it out myself.”

“Is that a promise?” Keith asked, eyes glinting mischievously.

“Of course,” Lance said easily, leaning over to kiss the top of Keith’s head and bursting into laughter again at the blush that spread across the hybrid’s face, nicely complimenting the leaves that still framed his features.

“You look like that Terran holiday!”

A loud smack echoed through the room, the back of the hairbrush having made contact with Lance’s asscheek. Keith had gotten up out of the chair for the attack, breathing heavily, hairbrush brandished like a knife.

Lance collapsed on the floor, howling in both pain and laughter as he shouted at the top of his lungs. “You just assaulted the prince of the Altean empire with a hairbrush to the ass! This is treason of the highest degree!”

Keith chuckled and helped the prince up, who was now wheezing with laughter. Drips of quintessence-infused tears flowed down his cheeks and Keith wiped them with his hand, bringing it to his mouth and feeling his eyes roll back in his head from the taste.

“God, I can’t wait to have you in me.”

That, of course, set Lance off all over again, and it was well past dark when they finally emerged from the bathroom, the prince clutching his sides.

“I think I’m dying. You made me laugh so hard my sides have literally split.”

“Holy shit, really?”

“Nah, I’m just teasing you. But seriously, that’s the hardest I’ve laughed in at least a century. And I think I’m in a good enough mood to tell you about Mom now.”

Keith inhaled sharply, opening the door to their shared room and ushering Lance inside. He led the prince to the bed and made him sit down, flopping down beside him.

Lance took a deep breath to steady himself, letting out a long inhale and grabbing Keith’s hand for support before he began his story.

“My mother didn’t start out as royalty. She was just an average Altean citizen, living with her parents and her brother. My father was out in the market here on Altea Prime—I’ll take you there sometime—mingling with the people when he saw her. He still says she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He immediately tried to speak to her, but Mom played hard to get. The king of the entire Altean empire was after her, but she wasn’t even fazed. Eventually, after a ton of gifts and professions of love, she agreed to let my dad court her. They got married, and five hundred years later, had Allura. Mom had always had issues with her reproductive system, like super painful cycles, so her pregnancy with Allura was hard. It was why they waited three thousand years after Allura to try for children again, which resulted in me. So, fast forward to the day my mom finds out she’s pregnant. She and my dad were thrilled, but they knew how hard the last pregnancy was, so they did things a little different this time. Dad sent Mom to the Druids near the end of her pregnancy.”

“Oh yeah, what are Druids?” Keith asked. “Hunk and Pidge mentioned them earlier.”

“Altean witches who use quintessence for healing, among other things. They had a giant pool of quintessence that, if they all activated it, could ensure a painless labor for the woman in the pool giving birth. Mom waited until she was nearly full term to go, enduring most of the pregnancy in the castle like she’d done with Allura. But on her way to the Druids, something went wrong. She started getting labor pains a month earlier than the doctors had predicted, and she panicked. They got to the Druids and immediately rushed her to the pool. Even with all of them around it, the labor was still incredibly painful.

“My mother pushed and pushed for hours until finally, I was born. But everything went wrong from there. The minute she lifted me from the water, the entire pool went black, darkening the room. It was in a cave, so there was no light coming from anywhere else. My mother and the druids watched as I opened my eyes and started to cry, my eyes and scales glowing. My hair turned white like Allura and Dad’s, and I wriggled around in her hands. My mom brought me down to nurse and the minute I touched the water again, my hair turned brown, I stopped moving, and the pool began glowing again.”

“What…”

“I was supposed to be a stillbirth,” Lance explained sadly. “Allura would have been an only child if my mom had stayed at the castle to have me. But instead, I depleted the Druids’ reserves of quintessence, which was a ludicrous amount so they were pretty pissed. They had finite reserves, but my body kicked into overdrive, and I ended up with an infinite supply. I still go to them once in a while to put quintessence in the pool.

“That wasn’t the problem, though. The problem was that I’d killed my mom. You see, prolonged exposure to that much quintessence isn’t good for anyone who isn’t born into the royal family. My mom had been in that pool for ten hours trying to push me out, and then she held me to her heart after I’d absorbed it all. The Druids told her that she needed to get out of the pool so they could heal her, but she didn’t want to. The longer she stayed in the pool, the stronger I’d get. She wanted me to become as powerful as possible so I could be a great king someday. My dad showed up not too long after that and immediately rushed her back to the castle to get her away from the quintessence pool. She lived for another sixty years, long enough for me to meet her and remember her. She gave me this,” Lance said, pulling on the chain around his neck. Keith watched as the prince produced a small pendant, opening it and showing him the writing.

“To my little prince. May you someday be a king as great as your father and as good-looking and wise as me,” Keith read, laughing quietly.

“She was beautiful and wise, like she said, and I killed her. Uncle Coran stayed in the castle to help raise Allura and I, since we were the last that remained of his sister.”

“Lance,” Keith said in the most soothing, quiet voice he could muster as he squeezed Lance’s hand, “you didn’t kill your mother.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“No,” Keith replied a little more firmly. “You did not kill your mother. Prolonged exposure to quintessence did. If she had gone to that place when she had Allura, the same thing would have happened. It was not your fault.”

“Yes, it was,” Lance cried, tears falling from his cheeks onto his crossed legs.

Keith huffed, crawling into the prince’s lap and wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. “No. It wasn’t. My mom died in childbirth too, you know. She was Galra, my dad was human—Terran, as you guys say. They lived out in the middle of nowhere, far from any hospital, but it wasn’t like Mom could go anyway—in the more rural areas, humans were jealous of those of their kind that could keep up a quintessence bond and they were wary of the Galra, so they were prohibited from most public places.”

“Where are you going with this?” Lance asked, sniffling.

Keith pressed a finger to his mouth to shush him. “Let me finish. When my parents found out they were pregnant, they were excited at first, but then they realized that a human/Galra hybrid would get relentlessly bullied in that world. They considered abortion, but my mom decided she wanted to keep me. She called me her little miracle, according to Dad. She carried me to term and, when she started feeling labor pains, they prepared for a home delivery. But everything went wrong. Her cervix didn’t dilate at all after almost 20 hours of contractions, so Dad called every doctor in the area, all of whom told him the same thing: ‘your child is an abomination, just let it die with its mother’.”

“Keith, that’s terrible,” Lance mumbled as he pressed his face into the hybrid’s neck. “What did they do?”

“My dad had to perform an emergency c-section. He was a doctor, but only a general practitioner. He’d had to do the birth courses but he wasn’t an expert. So he cut her open and pulled me out. When he did that, though, he nicked an artery and my mom began to bleed out. She held me to her chest and fed me the last of the quintessence in her body before she died. My dad blamed himself for it, because he was the one who got her pregnant and he was the one who cut me out. The point is that deaths like that are never anyone’s fault. My mom could have had a perfect labor. Your mom could have had no problems with pregnancies. My dad probably still blames himself, if he’s even still alive. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“Since you were taken?”

“Yeah. He ordered quintessence supplements online and had them shipped to our house since he didn’t know any other way to feed me besides sexually, and the very idea of that repulsed him. Some hackers got onto the website he ordered from and found our address. While dad was out trying to find a job at one of the local hospitals, the hackers came to the house and kidnapped me while I was taking a nap. I was nine years old. They sold me into the Galra slave markets and took the profits. Dad could be dead, for all I know.”

“You were sold into slavery at nine? Fuck, Keith, I can’t even begin to imagine.”

“You don’t have to,” Keith replied, bringing the prince’s hand up to his head, nuzzling the side of his face into it and pressing Lance’s fingers to his temple. “A deal’s a deal. You told me about your mom, which isn’t your fault by the way. Now I get to follow through on my end.”

Lance looked positively sick. “Keith, I can’t. That’s private and probably pretty damn traumatic. I can’t look through those memories without making you relive them, and I’m nowhere near that cruel.”

“And that’s where you stand apart from the rest,” Keith said, still holding Lance’s hand to his face. “The others would have done it in a heartbeat if it meant I’d be traumatized and obedient. When they’d inevitably sell me, they’d warn people that my spirit was strong. No one believed them, and then I ended up sold again. But Lance, you’ve been kind to me in a way no one ever has.”

“I’m not perfect,” the prince muttered, pulling his hand away from Keith’s face to grasp the hybrid’s hands in his own. “I’ve killed people. I’ve done worse than that, actually, considering what I did to Sendak.”

“No one is perfect. We’re not so different, Lance, though our age difference isn’t anything to scoff at. I’ve been willingly offering myself to you, and you’ve refused every time. You may not be perfect in the way you’re thinking, but you’re perfect for me,” Keith said, bringing Lance’s hands to his mouth and placing a light kiss on the palms. “I’m glad you came to that auction. You saved my life back there, Lance. Sendak was planning on keeping me.”

The prince’s head shot up as he growled, eyes glowing red.

Keith chuckled. “There’s another reason right there. You’re horrified if I bring up something that you could potentially hurt me with, but the minute I bring up the ones who abused me in the past, you go into full defense mode. Lance, I want to stay. At first, I was actually going to leave for the Galra planet the minute we got here, but after you introduced me to Red last night and I got to know Pidge and Hunk today, I know I want to stay. Looks like you’re stuck with me for the next seventy years.”

“Make that an eternity. I’m going to make you immortal, Keith. I’ll wait until you’re 20, but I will make you immortal. After that, you can choose to go where you wish if you get tired of me.”

Keith laughed, hugging his prince closer to him as he snuggled into the Altean’s chest. “I’d never get tired of you. You’re far too interesting for that.”

Lance sighed into his companion’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around the hybrid’s back. “You know, I’m glad I told you about Mom. I haven’t opened up to anyone like that in a long time. I haven’t even known you for two days, and yet it feels like we’ve known each other for decades. Even Pidge and Hunk don’t know some of the details I just told you.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same,” Keith admitted into Lance’s collarbone. “When I’m with you, it’s easier to forget all the things that have happened to me up to this point. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m going to spend eternity with you and your family, and I’ll never have to do anything against my will ever again. It’s a little scary, to be honest.”

“You wouldn’t believe how fast it passes, actually. I remember helping Dad free some planets from the Klaak like it was just yesterday. In reality, Dad hasn’t gone into battle in nearly a thousand years. Now it’s just me and Voltron,” Lance said pensively.

“Could we maybe…no, never mind.”

“What, Keith?” Lance asked, turning the hyrbid’s face toward him so he could look into Keith’s eyes.

“Could we maybe take a trip to Earth and visit my dad? I’d like to see him, even though it’s been this long. I’m not even sure he’s still alive, like I said, so if he isn’t I’d at least like to visit his grave.”

“Of course! I’ll tell Pidge and Hunk to contact Pidge’s biological brother, Matt. He’s the Terran ambassador to the Altean empire. He can check the records to see if your dad is still alive.”

“Thank you,” Keith said, kissing Lance on the cheek. “Can we go to bed now? I’m exhausted.”

“Of course! You’ll need to rest up for the next few weeks, save your strength for the festival,” Lance said, winking.

Keith started, staring at the now-blushing prince. “Wait, you’re seriously still on board with me participating in the Running with you? And me having sex with you?”

“I was already on board with the Running, and then you told me how young you were when you were abducted. Wait, no, that sounds super weird, oh my god—“

“Lance,” Keith said, laughing. “Stop rambling and just tell me.”

“It’s just that it all makes sense to me now. The only affection you’ve ever known has happened in the bedroom at the hands of your kindest masters, and it’s made me realize that I can’t change you. I can’t change that your method of getting closer to someone is sleeping with them,” Lance explained, voice a little wobbly. He paused for a second to gather himself, opening his mouth to speak again. “I do want to have sex with you, Keith, and now that Pidge is trying to make that possible, I’m excited to finally participate in the fertility festival. You can go with her while I go fill out the necessary paperwork tomorrow, ok?”

“Ok,” Keith agreed, elated. He jumped forward, tackling the prince onto the bedsheets and kissing him on the lips before snuggling into his chest and relaxing.

Lance laughed, wrapping his arms around Keith and whispering a word to turn the lights in their room off.

“Lance?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

With that, Keith’s breathing slowed and he slowly descended into the land of sleep. Lance chuckled quietly, careful not to wake his hybrid.

“No, Keith. Thank _you_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you like this story, please drop some kudos, bookmark and subscribe, and if you really liked it and want to fuel my inspiration, leave a comment! I always love hearing from you guys! 
> 
> I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender, and any and all mistakes are my own. If you guys notice any grammar mistakes, continuity errors, or anything else, please let me know so I can fix it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all! I am so sorry that it's taken literally 6 months for me to finish this chapter. While COVID hasn't affected me much, I had a terrible semester with online classes that completely consumed my life. When I got done doing homework, all I could bring myself to do was watch YouTube videos or TV shows. Writing felt like more of an obligation than anything, and my brain power was so dedicated to other things that I had literally the world's worst writers' block when it came to anything to do with writing.
> 
> Add in the fact that I've been dealing with some health issues (non-COVID related), I've not had the time to dedicate to writing. However, I was able to work on this chapter here and there, and I'm proud to say that I've finally finished it. I hope it was worth the long wait, and that all of you enjoy it! There will be explicit sex in this chapter, so if you're not prepared to see that, don't read it! I apologize if my sex scenes aren't the greatest--I'm a virgin, and pretty much all of my education about sex beyond the basic mechanics of it has come from fanfiction, so I'm grateful that AO3 is the den of porny iniquity that it is! Otherwise this fic would have no sex in it lol.
> 
> All in all, I apologize again for the long wait, and I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!

**How to Bond With Your Galra Companion in 5 Easy Steps!**

**Chapter Three: Feeding your Galra**

If you’re reading this, that means you’ve gained the trust of your Galra—congratulations! It’s probably been a while since you last fed them due to the bonding process we helped you with last chapter, so listen up! In this chapter we’ll learn all about how to feed your furry companion.

Feeding of a Galra can be a quick process or an incredibly extensive one. Galra cannot eat much solid food, which is why they thrive off of pure quintessence. Alteans can transfer quintessence in a variety of ways, the most common being through transfusion. However, some may wish to do it the old-fashioned ways. Galra can be fed by the transferring of saliva, or an open-mouthed kiss in layman’s terms. If your Galra is too hungry for that, they may also receive quintessence through your reproductive emissions. Be careful with this, however—your Galra could become addicted to such a pure source of quintessence and begin to demand it all the time!

Quintessence can be absorbed into a Galra’s body in multiple ways, but these three methods are the most used: transfusion, which requires refined quintessence to be injected intravenously; through the mouth by way of saliva transfer, and through the reproductive system. The final method might induce a blush, but never fear! It’s common to feed a Galra by having sex with it, and many companions actually prefer this method due to the intimacy it creates between them and their master. A word of caution, however: due to the potency of male Altean emissions, female Galra companions who absorb through their reproductive systems must consume a method of contraceptive to prevent conception. While Altean/Galra children are not unheard of, in the name of population control, it is advised against without filling out the proper paperwork.

It is  incredibly important that you gain your companion’s consent before feeding them. In some cases, the Galra may refuse to eat even if they need to, but you should  not force feed them by way of copulation. Instead, try to convince them to eat, or give them a sedative and feed them intravenously if they have become violent.

Once you and your companion have established a good schedule for feeding, it is important to keep in mind that your Galra may go into heat if you do not feed them regularly. The heat is nothing to be afraid of—it’s simply a vestigial hormone cycle. Both male and female Galra will go into a type of oestrus, producing pheremones that can lure in a being to feed them with quintessence. Before they could communicate, they relied on this method to feed from any visitors to their planet. Today, the heat is not as intense or as long as it used to be, but it’s still nothing to scoff at. We’ve included a helpful list of symptoms below that will indicate if your Galra is in their season. The list of male symptoms is shorter, so we’ll put that one first! The list of female symptoms can be found in the index.

Symptoms of male Galra mating season:

Nesting—stealing your clothes or blankets and assembling them into a small nest in their room

Aggressiveness—may be territorial about you or your shared room, may also be protective of you

Increased Sex Drive—your Galra may become insatiable, demanding quintessence twice a day or more

Slick Production—while male Galra can be fed by being on the giving end of penetrative sex, the most effective way to feed them is through anal penetration. During the heat, many male Galra will become wet, in colloquial terms, whenever they are aroused. It is a natural process and will make anal intercourse much more pleasurable for both of you! The slick production seems to be a leftover biological feature from when the Galra depended entirely on copulation for their quintessence supply, and today, it serves as a telling sign of whether your male Galra is in heat.

Pain—it may seem sad, but your Galra will experience painful cramps when they aren’t fed. Make sure you keep up with the twice-a-day feeding cycle—your Galra could die without the constant feedings!

Those are the symptoms that male Galra experience when they begin their mating season. You also have the option of sending them to a shelter to mate with a female, but they will be in excruciating pain the entire time, so it is more humane to just deal with the process yourself.

That concludes this chapter about feeding and Galra heat cycles. The next chapter will be all about how to entertain your Galra and keep them happy throughout your companionship!

* * *

Keith bounced excitedly on the lab table, trying to peer over Pidge’s shoulder as she combined chemicals together with Keith’s blood before adding some of Lance’s quintessence to it.

This process had been going on for quite some time, beginning in the morning when Pidge had burst into their shared room and loudly demanded, “Lance! Jack off in a cup for me!”, waking both of them up. It had been nearly three weeks since Lance had adopted the hybrid. Those weeks had gone by in a flash, and Keith and Lance’s bond was practically bulletproof now. It had been a difficult process, with the two working together to break some of Keith’s worse habits he’d developed after so long in captivity. Of course, that was helped by the fact that they went flying with their dragons almost every evening, and had long heart-to-heart talks every night before they passed out in each other’s arms. As of now, though, Lance had yet to take anything further than kisses, citing his concern for Keith’s body and how his quintessence may affect it. Despite that, though, they had grown incredibly close in those three weeks, and they'd even gotten better at controlling their bond so that Lance wasn't so overwhelmed by Keith's emotions all the time. 

Needless to say, the prince had been quite red in the face as he got out of bed, quietly accepted the rather large sample cup and lid Pidge had handed to him, and fled to the bathroom.

Keith, hair a mess and drool dripping down his face, stared at her a little angrily. “What did you do that for? I was having a perfectly nice dream!”

“Too bad, sunshine. Your prince there needs to give me a sample of pure quintessence I can use to test the various chemical combinations I’ll be trying out. I’ll need some of your blood too, but we can get that in the lab.”

“Oh, I see. Have you made any progress without us?”

“Besides eliminating everything that will definitely kill you and most of the things that might? No.”

“Wait, you left some that might kill me in the list?”

“I might be able to counteract their effects with your blood and Lance’s quintessence. Don’t worry, I won’t give you anything that would kill you. Everything I’m going to be testing is going to be in beakers, not in your body.”

Keith couldn’t think of a response to that, so he was left to snuggle back into the pillows to wait for Lance to finish. Pidge started whistling an old Earth tune, and by the time she'd finished that one and started another, Keith had half a mind to tell her to shut up so he could go back to sleep. Mercifully, he was saved by Lance emerging from the bathroom, still red, holding the container in his hands.

“Here, Pidge,” the prince said, handing the cup over while blushing like crazy. “I hope that’s enough”. 

To Keith, it looked like more than enough. In fact, it looked like too much, and he had to ask.

“Um, I hate to ask a personal question, but is that really from one…y’know?”

Lance’s eyes widened, head shaking vigorously as Pidge laughed, setting the cup onto a nearby shelf to keep from dropping it.

“No, no. Virgin, remember? I woke up with a…problem anyway, and I don’t really have a refractory period right now, since we’re super close to the festival,” Lance explained. “My instincts are going crazy. That’s definitely more than one.”

“I’d say it was two,” Pidge commented, apparently just to be a little shit.

Keith eyed the cup warily. That still seemed like a lot for only two.

“It’s ok, Keith. When that happens inside of you, most of it will get absorbed instantly,” Pidge said.

“Pidge!” Lance shrieked, flushing a bright red. Keith’s eyes went wide, his cheeks reddening the longer Lance flailed in embarrassment beside him.

“Ah, lovely. I’ve fulfilled my ‘embarrass Lance to the point of death’ quota for today,” Pidge said. She turned to Keith with a grin. “Let’s go, Keith. You can brush your hair on our way.”

That was how Keith found himself perched on a table for three hours watching his friend mix different chemicals together with his and Lance’s...ahem, biological materials.

“What does it feel like?” Pidge asked after a while, breaking the silence.

“What does what feel like?”

“When you have Lance’s quintessence. What does it feel like?”

“I haven’t had it the most common way yet. And shouldn’t you know? You’re bonded to Altean royalty just like I am,” Keith pointed out, confused.

“Allura transfers to Hunk and I through transfusion. Shiro’s the only one she feeds by sleeping with him. We don’t need regular doses of quintessence like Shiro does because of his Galra arm, so we only experience it once a month or so. Even then, it kind of feels like shooting up heroin. Your arm burns for a minute and then you get the high.”

“That makes sense. Um..if you don’t mind me asking, how do you know what using heroin is like?” Keith asked cautiously.

Pidge looked every bit her 66 years as she smiled sadly. “When Lance found me and Hunk on Terra, we weren’t exactly the most outstanding citizens. Hunk was a street fighter for money, and I whored myself out so we could eat every day. Heroin, along with a few other drugs, was my only escape. Lance was visiting with the mayor of our city about Altean solar panels when he saw me on the street corner I favored.”

“Jesus Christ,” Keith breathed. “What did he do?”

“There was an older gentleman attempting to proposition me. Lance punched him in the face and grabbed me by the arm. He could tell immediately what I’d been through, and that I was high at the time. Lance is perceptive like that. Even without a bond, he’s empathic. He pushed some quintessence into me and cleared the high. I fell to my knees, sobbing. Hunk came around the corner and tried to fight Lance. Lance dropped him with one touch to the forehead. Next thing I knew, we were being loaded into a shuttle and being taken to see the princess of the Altean empire. Lance refused to bond us, so he took us to Allura. Shiro took one look and adopted us, insisting to Allura that she not bond us or turn us immortal until we turned 20. I was fifteen at the time, as was Hunk.”

“I thought you two were biological siblings,” Keith said. “You don’t look like twins.”

“No, we met at the orphanage when we were kids. My parents died in a hovercar crash, and my older brother was drafted into Earth’s intergalactic army. He’s since become the ambassador to Altea from Terra, and I’ve seen him a couple times. He bonded to one of Allura’s cousins, so he’s immortal too. But right after he left, I was put into the orphanage by one of my dad’s old colleagues who refused to take care of me, without telling my brother. Hunk declared me to be his sister and I’ve been his family ever since.”

“Oh, I see. How did Shiro help you before Allura made you immortal?”

“We spent the five years after Lance rescued us under his wing on Altea, bonding with our dragons and learning to fly them. Lance was a big help, and I could tell he had saved us for a reason. I love Allura, but it’s not the same love Shiro feels for her. Lance knew that we had potential to be Paladins as well as Companions, and he was right there when we turned 20 and Allura made us immortal.”

“Jeez,” Keith whispered softly, a little bit overwhelmed. “He’s so nice to everyone who deserves it. It makes me feel kinda inadequate.”

The brunette stared at him, eyes probing into what seemed like his very soul.

“You’re in love with him already, don’t you?”

Keith blushed. “I don’t know. It’s only been three weeks since we met, but he’s already treated me so much better than anyone else in my life. He wants to take me to see my father, Pidge. I haven’t seen my father in nearly ten years. Anytime I’d bring him up to my previous masters, they’d tell me point-blank that I wasn’t a person so I didn’t have a father, I had a sire.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Keith. That’s terrible,” Pidge said.

“Yeah. But Lance makes it better. He’s so selfless.”

Pidge laughed, rolling her eyes as she stirred the beaker in front of her. “Yeah. Almost to a fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“There have been a number of incidents where Lance has nearly died because of that selflessness. For example, when we were on a Klaak-infested planet twenty years ago trying to free the trapped citizens. Lance was sniping and Blue was down doing melee with the Klaak’s giant lizards. They look a bit like salamanders, only they’re seven feet tall at the shoulders and they have a poisonous spine on the tip of their tail. From where Lance was, it looked like Blue had gotten nailed with it. He lost it completely.”

“The way he lost it when he walked in on Sendak touching me?”

“Probably. Red eyes, bad temper, powerful telekinesis?”

Keith nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what happened. He sent the whole battlefield flying, except for Hunk, Shiro, and I, in his haste to get to Blue. It turned out that she hadn’t actually been stung—it had hit the tough scales on the back of her neck and hadn’t penetrated the skin to poison her. The damage was done, though—Lance always took Blue with him to his sniping posts to watch his back when we’d go to Klaak planets after that.”

“Wow. He’s a sniper?”

“Yeah. The best goddamn sniper in the universe. He’s had seven thousand years of practice, so he’s a combat master. So is Allura. She fights best with a quarterstaff while Lance fights best with a gun and a scope. In Earth terms, he could shoot the wings off a fly from three miles away without singeing a hair on it.”

“Jesus Christ. Hey, is that supposed to be smoking?”

“Fuck!”

* * *

“Hunk, help me. I think I love him.”

Hunk, clad in an apron and a chef’s hat, mittened hands retrieving a plate of cookies from the oven, burst into laughter. He set the cookies down on the counter and turned to his friend, placing his hands on his shoulders.

“Lance, you are one of the biggest seven-thousand-year-old idiots I’ve ever met. But I love you, and I’m going to tell you a secret—you’re pretty fast at falling in love. Remember Nyma?”

Lance groaned in defeat, head falling forward as he folded into Hunk’s arms for a hug. “I know, I know. But there’s just something about him, Hunk. He’s just so…”

“Keith?” Hunk suggested.

“Yes? I don’t know how to describe it. He balances me out. He’s tough where I’m soft, he keeps a cool head when I’m angry and the other way around… I know I’ve only known him for a couple weeks, but god, Hunk, it feels like  _ years _ .”

“You deserve him, buddy. He makes you happy. Everyone’s noticed the difference. A couple of the servants have asked if you two knew each other before you adopted him. Your dad’s coming back tomorrow, and I’m sure he’ll notice it, too.”

“Oh god, Keith’s going to freak when I remind him that he still needs to meet Dad. What do I tell him?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Hunk replied sagely, shoving the prince out of his embrace so he could check on his cookies to see if they were cooled sufficiently. “Spring it on him. Make sure he wears something nicer than that Earth outfit he dug out of the closet the day after you adopted him.”

Lance laughed, snatching a cookie and dancing around the kitchen tauntingly, holding it just out of Hunk’s reach as the slightly shorter man struggled to grab it. “I love that jacket on him. It reminds me of the jacket you gave me two years after we saved you from Terra.”

“That old thing? You still have it?” Hunk asked, giving up on the cookie since it had disappeared into the prince’s mouth.

“Oh yeah. It’s in preservation right now. Maybe I’ll pull it out and wear it when I visit Terra,” Lance said, hopping up to sit on the counter.

“You want to go to Terra? It’s been decades since you last went. Why now?”

“I’d like to take Keith to see his father,” Lance explained. “He needs closure, since he was kidnapped into Galra slavery when he was nine.”

Hunk dropped the cookie he was holding, cursing as he retrieved it from the floor and blew air over it to dislodge any prospective germs. “Holy shit, really? God, I feel so bad for that poor kid. He’s not much older than Katie and I were when you pulled us off the streets.”

“I saw a bit of you in him when I met him, actually,” Lance admitted, grabbing another cookie. “That fire in your eyes when you heard Pidge crying, the final punch to the guy you were fighting before you came over to try and fight me… I remember it like it was yesterday. I saw that fire in Keith.”

“I did too. I saw a bit of ourselves after you and Shiro rescued us in him yesterday, flying with Red. He was so happy, smiling like crazy when we got up to the Caldera and Red came up to him without being called. He really is perfect for you, buddy.”

“Hunk, stop! I’m gonna cry,” Lance said, lip quivering.

“Don’t you dare. If you cry, then I’m gonna cry, and then these cookies will get all snotty,” Hunk threatened.

Lance chuckled, snatching one last cookie before hopping off the counter. “I’m gonna head down to the sparring arena. It’s been a while since I practiced.”

Hunk smacked him, placing himself between the cookies and the prince. “Not like you need any practice, but have fun!”

Lance whistled to himself as he walked down the hallway, licking cookie dust off of his fingers. He almost ran into a small Galra walking around the corner, startling her to the point of the tray she was carrying falling to the ground.

“Oh quiznak, I’m so sorry…Katya?”

The Galra girl looked up from picking up the cups, smiling as she recognized the prince. “Your Majesty! Hello!”

“Katya, you’re allowed to call me Lance. I was there when you were born,” the prince reminded her, chuckling as he placed the last of the goblets onto the tray.

She blushed a pretty shade of violet-purple, giggling. “Sorry. It’s been kind of hard adjusting to castle life.”

“I get it. No worries. Just make sure you call me Lance from now on, hmm? Calling me ‘Your Majesty’ makes me seem old.”

Katya laughed again. “You are old, Lance.”

“That’s right. I am. And there is nothing wrong with that, is there?” the prince struck a ridiculous pose, making the Galra girl giggle. “I still look fabulous!”

“That’s debatable,” came an amused voice from behind him.

Lance whirled around to find his hybrid standing there, looking at the two with amusement. Katya peered around the prince before gasping, setting down the tray and leaping into Keith’s arms.

The hybrid grunted as her weight hit him, but he held her up successfully. “Hello, Katya. How are you?”

The girl began chattering excitedly about all of the things that had happened since she’d arrived at the castle three weeks ago, beginning with the reunion with her mother.

Lance leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a soft grin on his face as he watched the two go back and forth. Katya was talking animatedly, gesturing with her arms as Keith watched, eyes going wide at certain parts of the story that were meant to be grand and exciting.

The prince didn’t notice when the hybrid’s gaze shifted to him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lance startled, nearly falling over as he struggled to regain his balance while trying to process Keith’s statement. Barely suppressing a blush, he asked, “Like what?”

“Like he’s the brightest star in the night sky,” Katya supplied.

Lance was no longer successful in his efforts to keep from blushing, and neither was Keith as he chuckled awkwardly and set the girl down.

“Don’t you have something to be doing besides teasing Lance?” the hybrid asked.

“Oh yeah! I was supposed to take these cups down to the kitchen to get ready for dinner.”

“Hurry along,” Lance said, handing her the tray.

“Thank you. It was nice seeing you two!” Katya yelled as she disappeared around the corner.

“Like I’m the brightest star in the sky, huh?” Keith teased.

“Shut up! You’re pretty, and you were practically glowing talking to her. I was just enjoying the view,” Lance grumbled. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

“I had to pee. Pidge is still working on that serum.”

“Ah.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was helping Hunk make cookies, but he kicked me out for eating them, so I’m headed to the training deck.”

Keith gasped, eyes going wide as he looked at Lance excitedly. “The castle has a training deck?”

“Of course! My sister and I never would have been able to become combat masters without it. I’m a master sniper, you know.”

“Yeah I know, Pidge told me. Can I see it?”

“It would be an awfully long bathroom break if I had to show you around the whole thing,” Lance replied, chuckling. “For now, go back to Pidge and let her know you’d like to see it. If she’s done with you, she’ll let you go. If not, well, I pity your soul.”

“Ok!” Keith agreed, practically bouncing down the hallway back to Pidge’s lab.

Lance laughed at his obvious excitement, heading the opposite way down the hallway. Knowing Pidge, she’d just teleport Keith right on top of him when she deemed him ready to leave, so it wasn’t worth it to just stand in the hallway like a dork. He arrived at the training deck, changed into the workout jumpsuit, and picked up his gun, relishing in the weight of it in his hands. Kneeling down, he lifted it and aimed, closing his eyes and smiling.

“Begin simulation—Target Practice level 300.”

* * *

“Pidge! Pidge! Can I go to the training deck with Lance?” Keith inquired excitedly as he burst into the room.

“What am I, your mother? Do whatever the hell you want, dude. I’m done here anyway.”

“Wait, really? What was the final combination?” Keith asked, resuming his spot on the counter from earlier.

“Nothing,” Pidge said, eyes glinting. “Absolutely nothing.”

“What.”

“Your body, either due to your heritage or your bond with Lance—it could very well be both—has a natural resistance to Lance’s quintessence. In a ‘fuck-it’ experiment, I dumped a small amount of Lance’s quintessence straight into your blood, and the coolest thing happened—your blood absorbed all of it in thirty seconds and started glowing afterwards. When I checked the levels of quintessence, though, they were nowhere near lethal levels for you. I would know—I took samples from your receptors earlier, awkward as it was. So, I put the quintessence into those samples.  _ They got stronger _ .”

“What? What does that mean?”

“It means that you and Lance could have had a finalized bond this whole time, Keith. Your receptors don’t get fried by his quintessence—it makes them stronger, more receptive. After a few minutes, they went back down again. Essentially, it’s like supercharging a battery. There are some you can’t do it with and some you can—and you’re one of the ones who can.”

“Wait, so I won’t have my receptors fried if Lance and I have sex during the fertility festival?”

“Nope! You’ll feel high and your bond will be finalized, but you won’t die, nor will your body be damaged. It’s quite interesting, really.”

“Holy shit.” Keith sat back, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes. “This means he has no excuse now.”

“Well, even if I tell him it won’t hurt you, he probably won’t believe me. That’s why I need you to tell him that we’ve made a serum and we’ll be testing it and his quintessence on you a bit later today.”

“I feel bad lying to him, though,” Keith said. “If he finds out later, he’ll be pissed at both of us.”

“How about this, then: tell him that I’m still working on it, and then tomorrow before the Running starts, tell him that you’re good to go. The reason can be entirely up to you.”

“That’s still pushing the truth a bit, but I suppose it’ll work. I’d like to go to the training deck now, then. Can you give me directions?

“No,” Pidge replied, pressing a button on her wrist device and waving as a blue light overtook Keith.

The hybrid let out a grunt as he landed on the floor, the blue light dissipating from around him.

“Took you long enough,” he heard Lance say from somewhere in the room. “I was beginning to worry.”

Keith picked himself up off the floor, groaning as he stood up and stretched.

“Pull your shirt down, it’s distracting as hell.”

Keith glanced over to where Lance was. “You’re not even looking at me—holy shit.”

Lance wasn’t looking at all. His eyes were closed, gun held comfortably in his hands, as he shot at targets all the way across the room from him. Every single one except for three had a scorch mark perfectly in the middle. Keith watched, mouth dropping open, as Lance hit the last three targets in rapid succession.

“Simulation closed,” a voice said as the targets vanished in the same blue light that had brought Keith to the training deck.

Lance set his gun down, opened his eyes, and looked over at Keith, smiling. “So? How did it go?”

“How can you act like that was nothing?! You just shot all of those with your eyes closed!”

“Yeah, it's to train my other senses. There are 300 targets in all, and they all stack up randomly. Some are behind others since the room isn’t big enough for all of them to fit in the same dimensions. I close my eyes and activate the simulation. At the beginning, the targets manifest and each of them plays a musical note, if you will, and every one has a different tone. Those play every 30 seconds. I shoot them by hearing the tones.”

“Fuck, that’s impressive,” Keith breathed.

“Glad you think so, babe,” Lance replied flirtily. “But you never answered my question.”

“She still hasn’t found a serum,”  _ not a lie  _ “but she’s getting there. It’ll be ready by the Running.”

“That reminds me,” Lance said. “When we get up tomorrow, remind me to dress you in something nice.”

“Something nice? Why?”

“No reason in particular. You’ll find out then. We’ll do a tour in a few minutes, but you look antsy.”

“I’m kind of tense from just sitting in Pidge’s lab all morning,” Keith admitted.

“Do you want to spar with me? Not that I’d let you get into a bad situation again, but you should probably learn some self-defense moves. It’ll come in handy if you get into a tight spot when we’re out with the dragons.”

“Sure, I guess. How do we start?”

“Attack me,” Lance said, beckoning with a ‘come at me’ motion.

“What?”

“I need to know where your weak spots are. I’m going to attack you back, just a warning, so be prepared to defend yourself.”

Keith laughed. “You don’t think I could hold my own against you?”

Lance’s eyes glinted. “I do. That’s what I’m excited about.” He beckoned again.

Keith began circling him, hands held loosely at his sides. Lance followed, copying every footstep, every breath. Keith’s arm twitched and Lance readied himself for an attack.

The hybrid threw himself at the prince, going for a jab to the midriff. Lance, having anticipated the movement, dodged to the side before delivering a swift but relatively gentle blow to Keith’s back. The hybrid fell to the ground with a grunt but responded in kind, kicking his legs around to sweep Lance’s feet out from under him. The prince had seen such movement coming as well, but he fell anyway.

Keith clambered on top of him, sitting squarely on his chest and pressing his forearm to Lance’s neck. “Yield.”

“Never,” Lance replied, letting his eyes and scales shine with the adrenaline of the fight. He felt Keith tense, his body growing rigid as his pupils blew wide. “Oh, you like it when I let them glow? Interesting.”

Keith hissed, launching himself back to his feet and stepping a safe distance away from Lance, willing his growing erection to go away.

“Oh, it’s okay, there are many who have seen that and had their knees give out,” Lance said, rolling over and raising himself into a stance not unlike that taken by a cat about to pounce. “I’ve never let any of them touch me, though. Not like you will. I only regret that I’m not your first as you are mine.”

“Using proper language on me? Is that supposed to make me swoon?”

Lance laughed. “Nah, I revert to it when I fight. Last vestige of my teacher, that old bastard. Always insisting that if you were to battle an opponent properly, you had to engage in witty, well-spoken shit talk as well.”

Keith laughed, making another move to tackle Lance, anticipating the dodge, and throwing a few punches and a kick. “Is that really how he worded that?”

“No,” Lance replied, blocking and parrying but never returning, “I’ve taken some creative embellishments over the years. You fight well, but when you launch yourself like that, you leave your back open. We should do this more after the Running—you’re a really fast learner. Very adaptive. Right now, however…”

“What?” Keith asked, wiping his sweaty hair from his brow. Lance grabbed his wrist and pulled the hybrid closer to him, peering into his eyes for a second before twisting the hybrid’s arm behind his back.

“Never be afraid to fight dirty, babe,” Lance said, licking a long stripe up Keith’s neck, letting his teeth scrape over the hybrid’s pulse point.

Keith shuddered, arousal spreading through his body like wildfire. It was followed by a wave of fear, quenching the heat and making him wrench himself from Lance’s grip. “Thanks for the lesson, but, um…please don’t stand behind me like that.”

“Keith? What’s wrong?”

The hybrid shook his head, sitting on one of the benches. “I don’t have many good memories of men holding me from behind. Women I seem to be fine with, since I don’t freak out when Pidge touches me, but men… I can’t do it.”

Lance sat next to Keith, enthusiasm gone, as he rubbed the hybrid’s back. “I’m sorry, Keith. I didn’t realize.”

“No, it’s my fault. I should have warned you beforehand. I’ll need you to keep that in mind for the Running, too. I know that there’s a certain amount of…instinct that takes over, but I need you to keep enough of your head to take me from the front.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but you’re wrong,” Lance replied easily.

Keith’s head shot up from its formerly bowed position. “Excuse me?”

Lance knelt in front of him, grasping Keith’s hands. “I will not be taking you, Keith. That would imply force, and your days of being forced to do things are far past you. I’m going to be making love to you out in that forest, Keith.”

The hybrid gasped quietly, grip tightening on the prince’s hands. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

Lance chuckled. “I think we’re definitely headed that way. For right now, I want you to forget all about those bastards and focus on me. I’ll make you feel so good, you’ll lose yourself to it.”

It was Keith’s turn to chuckle. “I don’t have much to compare you to. I was one of the lucky ones. I learned at a young age how to separate myself from my body during feedings. It never actually felt good for me, beyond my body’s natural reaction to having their quintessence inside me.”

The hybrid shuddered as Lance’s eyes went red. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll make sure you stay firmly tethered.”

The prince slowly crept his way up the hybrid’s body until their lips were a breath apart, whispering, “I’ll erase every last memory of those who touched you before me. As of a couple weeks ago, you are  **mine** , and nothing will take you from me nor me from you. I can’t do everything I’d like to do until Pidge finds a solution, but for now…” Lance pressed a kiss to Keith’s lips, slipping his tongue inside and relishing in the little shiver that passed through the hybrid as the prince’s addictive quintessence hit his tongue. “Let me taste you.”

The prince kissed down from there, still kneeling on the floor, paying special attention to the spots that induced shivers. He pulled off the jacket the hybrid had pulled on so hastily that morning, rucking Keith’s shirt up above his nipples before lavishing attention onto them. Keith moaned, hands mussing the prince’s white hair.

“Lance…”

“Hush, love. We’re not even to the best part yet. I need your consent, though. Do you want this?”

Keith nodded vigorously, pulling the prince’s head back to his chest. Lance chuckled, easily breaking the passionate grip. “Come on, use your words. Do you consent?”

“Yes,” Keith breathed, again pulling the prince back to him.

Lance trailed kisses down to the hybrid’s navel, laving his tongue in and around it as he made quick work of the button and zipper on the hybrid’s pants, pulling them down far enough to expose Keith’s erection, straining against its cloth constraints.

“Wow…” Lance said, eyeing the bulging cloth. “If I asked you to fuck me, what would you say?”

“I’m as much a virgin in that regard as you are, so I wouldn’t know what I was doing. I’d love it, but…are you sure it’s ok? With you being the prince and all?”

“What, the idea of bending the prince of the Altean Empire over and having your way with him doesn’t get you all hot?” Lance asked, mouthing Keith’s erection through his boxers with a smirk. “Fuck proper. I’d let you do anything you wanted to me.”

The hybrid let out a small gasp from the touches. “R-really?”

“Oh hell yeah,” Lance replied, pulling Keith’s dick free and watching it pop up with a grin before licking up the length, collecting the precum that had already dripped down it so tantalizingly. “I’d let you fuck me, or I’d fuck you to the point of screaming, to the point that you’d go Galra and scratch the hell out of my back, biting my neck, and I’d go shirtless the next day just to show it off.”

“L-Lance, ah!”

“Fuck, you’re responsive. I’m guessing none of them ever did this to you?”

Keith shook his head, tears forming in his eyes as Lance wrapped his lips around the head and  _ sucked _ . He gasped, hands flailing for grip before one landed on the bench, gripping to the point of white knuckles. The other landed in the prince’s hair. He removed it again, gasping apologies, only to have it forcefully returned to the snowy locks.

“I liked it when you pulled my hair earlier, Keith. I still like it. Keep them there. Remember when I told you I’d let you do anything you wanted to me?”

With that, the prince enveloped Keith’s dick in velvety, wet heat, moaning as he went down. The hybrid increased his grip on Lance’s hair, gasps and small moans escaping his mouth as he threw his head back in ecstasy.

“I’ve never done this before, but I guess I must be pretty good at it, from the response you’re giving me.”

“Quit talking and get your mouth back on me,” Keith gasped, pulling the prince’s hair rather hard.

Lance obeyed, chuckling even as his lips wrapped around Keith’s length and descended until the prince’s nose was pressed to black pubic hair. He swallowed a couple times before lifting back off, lavishing attention to the tip as his hand stroked what his mouth wasn’t covering. Keith pulled his hair again and the prince moaned, stroking his tongue across the hybrid’s slit.

“L-Lance! Oh, fucking hell!”

The prince laughed again, dipping a finger down to Keith’s perineum and pressing lightly before sucking Keith down again, swallowing and humming at the same time as one of his fangs lightly scraped against the side of the hybrid’s length. With that, Keith was gone, tears streaming from purple eyes as his head fell backwards in ecstasy, mouth open on a loud moan and hands mindlessly caressing the parts of Lance’s face he could reach.

When Keith managed to slump down, orgasm coming to an end, it was to the sight of Lance leaning back and wiping his mouth with the back of one hand, grinning like the cat who got the cream.

“I…I should do you, too,” Keith offered, reaching for the prince.

“No need,” Lance said. “I found that more enjoyable than I thought I would. It felt good, having you pull my hair. Plus, when you came, you brushed one of my scales. They’re super sensitive.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah. I’m not going to have you put your hand in my pants to check, but I am telling the truth. In fact…” Lance’s eyes closed and Keith felt a strange feeling overtake him for just a second before it was gone.

“What was that?”

“Gross as it sounds, that was me absorbing that quintessence back into my body. It’s kinda gross, but since I’m Altean royalty, that’s all that comes out of me. I don’t even need reproductive cells to reproduce—my quintessence is so strong, it can create life out of nowhere. So it’s not gross, but rather, a form of recycling that prevents unnecessary cleanup.”

“Still sounds gross. Jizz lotion?”

“I told you, it’s not! It’s straight quintessence!”

“Nothing straight about what just happened,” Keith said, grinning. He was enjoying teasing the prince like this.

“I’ll say,” Lance shot back with a smirk. “You taste good. I can’t wait to try the other side.”

Keith choked, putting himself back into his pants and smoothing his clothes down until he looked relatively presentable. “Lance!”

“What? I said I was a virgin, not a saint!”

“No, you’re definitely not,” Keith muttered to himself.

“I think I’m done in here for today. If we do anything like that again, Allura will eviscerate me for ruining the sanctity of her training room. Wanna go steal some of Hunk’s cookies? We can go up to the dragons afterwards, though Blue is going to tease me pretty relentlessly about what just happened.”

“I’d love a cookie,” Keith said, standing up. His knees wobbled and he slumped back onto the bench as Lance looked at him with concern. At the hybrid’s blush, the prince began to laugh.

“Ha! I make your knees weak!”

“Shut up and help me to the kitchen, asshole.”

“So mean! I just sucked you off, and this is the thanks I get?” Lance pouted.

**Smack!**

“OW! Ok!”

“And fix your hair,  _ your Majesty _ ,” Keith teased mockingly. “You look like you just had a wild night.”

“I had a wild five minutes,” Lance shot back, pulling a comb from his clothes and gently pulling it through his hair, following it with a quintessence-infused palm to smooth the white strands. When he deemed it presentable, he turned to Keith. “Good?”

Keith leaned closer, hand reached up to fix a strand that was still sticking up. Lance found himself blushing, despite what they had just done, and he closed his eyes to relish the feeling of Keith touching his hair. When the hybrid began pulling away, Lance wrapped his arms around him and hugged him close, burying his face into his neck.

“I’m so glad I decided to go to that auction with Allura. You’ve only been in my life for three weeks, and you’ve already irrevocably altered it. I can’t believe I get to keep you for eternity.”

Keith felt his eyes well up a little bit, cursing his tear ducts as he slowly returned the hug, holding on to the prince almost as hard as Lance was holding on to him. “I can’t thank you enough for rescuing me. It was getting close to the point that if Sendak lapsed and didn’t inject the serum, I was going to use my claws and…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Lance had forced their bodies apart before coming in for a kiss that stole Keith’s breath away, softly shining tears sliding down the prince’s cheeks. Keith moaned, feeling Lance’s quintessence hit his tongue and burst like the pop rocks candies he used to love on Earth.

The prince pulled away, wiping his tears. He kept Keith close to him with one arm, and his voice was wobbly when he spoke. “I know. I could sense it on you below the fear and the hatred. That pit of despair, of hopelessness…I couldn’t stand to feel it, and I was only feeling it secondhand. I couldn’t imagine what you were going through. It was all I could do not to slaughter Sendak in front of you.”

“I wish you would have,” Keith muttered, pressing his forehead to the prince’s and closing his eyes. “If you’d have let me go first, I would have helped you.”

“I couldn’t do that to ‘llura. She hates the sight of blood, which is why she fights by quarterstaff and not by sword. She nearly puked when she saw what had happened to Sendak, then manhandled me to the baths. I thought she was going to beat me up for it.”

Keith laughed, wiping away the last of Lance’s tears and kissing his nose. “That would be fun to watch.”

“Not when we got serious. It’s dangerous, if we ever decided to use our full strength, like what almost happened at the auctions. We would have collapsed those tunnels by ourselves, no explosives needed. Allura isn’t as talented in telekinesis as I am, but she is still a master. I would be on the defensive most of the time.”

The prince grasped Keith’s hand and they walked together back towards the kitchen, Lance regaling his hybrid with tales of his childhood.

“And then I said, ‘Allura, that’s not its mouth. Didn’t you watch Uncle Coran’s video about Weblums?’ I thought she was going to kill me, but she was too preoccupied with attempting not to puke into her space suit.”

“Are you telling him about that time in the Weblum? I swear, Lance, what kinda stories are you going to tell about us?”

“Pidge!” Keith exclaimed, waving to her. “We were just coming to find you and Hunk. Lance said Hunk had cookies.”

“I haven’t told Keith any stories about you two…yet,” Lance said, chuckling.

Katie smiled, noticing their clasped hands, and patted Hunk on the back. “Don’t worry, Hunk. I’m sure you’ll have the worst stories. You have less blackmail material on Lance than I do.”

The chef’s eyes narrowed as he stared his adoptive sister down. “Oh really? What about that time with the ambassador from Casara?”

Lance went pale as Pidge started laughing, Keith looking confusedly back and forth between the two. “What? What is he talking about?”

“I had forgotten about that one! I thought Alfor was going to have a heart attack when he found them in the gardens!”

“Lance? What is she talking about?” Keith asked, curious.

“There’s a plant called a juniberry that’s native to Altea, though it’s spread to other planets with Altea’s expansion. On Casara, it’s considered a very powerful aphrodisiac, though I didn’t know this at the time. I had gotten into a conversation with the ambassador about juniberries and she’d asked to go outside and see them, so I walked her out there, and…”

“And what?”

Pidge was still laughing, trying to force words out between giggles. “They started affecting her, and she tried to jump Lance.”

“She was mostly coherent, but she did pull me into a kiss and then passed out at my feet. Dad found us in the garden after I shouted for help. He turned as white as his hair and sent a guard to find a medic to help her. It was super traumatic, I couldn’t even look at the juniberry plants for nearly a decade,” Lance spoke through gritted teeth, shuddering as he remembered the event.

“But that wasn’t even the worst part. Allura was on Dvorak for a diplomatic mission, so she missed out, and she got back the next morning, so she didn’t know about the incident. She decided to surprise Lance with breakfast, and of course, her favorite breakfast food?”

“No,” Keith gasped, half amused and half horrified as Lance’s face turned all sorts of colors at the recount of this story.

“Yes. Juniberry cake,” Hunk said, laughing harder and harder as he kept talking. “I’ve made it for her tons of times. Basically, you use them for the batter and the frosting, and then you place them on top as a garnish, since they’re edible in all forms. Allura walked into Lance’s room with…with juniberry cakes on the plate…”

Since Hunk couldn’t finish because he was laughing too hard, Pidge jumped in: “Allura said she’s never seen Lance move that fast outside of battle.”

Keith turned to the prince. “What did you do?”

“I jumped out the window,” Lance said, now joining in on the laughing. “Allura was horrified, and when Pidge and Hunk stopped laughing, since they’d been following her to see my reaction, they explained what had happened.”

“Allura didn’t ask me for juniberry cakes for a decade,” Hunk chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. “I felt so bad for her, but it was hilarious seeing Lance’s face go pale whenever someone would even mention juniberries, much less bring them into the castle.”

“Pidge wore a juniberry perfume for a little while just to fuck with me,” Lance said, laughing.

“I was hoping to keep wearing it, but I guess I’m allergic to the alcohol they used for the perfume, so it gave me a pretty nasty rash. I had to wear turtlenecks for ages just to cover it up, since it happened to look exactly like hickies.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered anyway,” Hunk mused, changing the subject. “You’re demi, and you’ve made that obvious to everyone, so even if we had seen them, we wouldn’t have thought you were getting down and dirty with someone. Well, besides Allura.”

“You and…Allura?” Keith asked hesitatingly, worried he may be stepping into bold territory.

Pidge laughed. “Demisexual means I’m only sexually attracted to people I know really well, generally people who have been friends with me for a while. Allura invited me back to her chambers one night, since we’d been flirting for a while, and I had told her I was curious. It was a lot of fun, but she…wasn’t what I was used to, anatomy-wise. Altean reproductive systems look a  _ lottttt _ different than ours.”

Keith turned to look at Lance, who put up his hands defensively. “Hey, Allura has her own preference for organs. I keep mine looking human. She’s discovered her favorite over the years. I’m sure yours don’t look all that human when you’re in your Galra form.”

“True,” Keith said. “But I can’t switch it at will.”

“That’s so weird that Alteans can change genitalia like that. Trans people on Earth have to work so much harder, but here on Altea, if you decide your body doesn’t fit who you believe to be, you can just switch whenever,” Hunk said. “Makes things a whole lot easier with sex and the dysphoria of it all.”

“Speaking of which, where is Allura? I haven’t seen her since yesterday,” Lance asked.

“Oh, she and Shiro were preparing for your dad’s arrival tomorrow. He’s coming back to kick off the festival. She was going to chat with us at dinner about what we need to do on this end,” Pidge replied.

“That reminds me,” Lance said. “You guys wanna help me pick an outfit for Keith? He still has yet to meet Dad, and I wanna show him off tomorrow at the pre-Running banquet.”

Pidge and Hunk both smiled super wide, nodding enthusiastically. Keith blanched, shaking his head and backing away from the Altean prince and his friends. “Uh, no way, no. I am not meeting the King of Altea, that’s crazy! He’s got like…a million planets under his control!”

“Yeah, well, he’s also my dad, and a total dork if you give him some technology to be excited over,” Lance said, waving his hand dismissively. “You’ll be fine. You guys ready? It’s almost dinner time, so we should see if I have anything that’ll fit Keith. If not, we’ve got time to go to the market tomorrow to find something.”

A protesting Keith was grabbed under both arms by the two Earthlings, who proceeded to drag him, kicking and shouting, into Lance’s quarters, the Altean prince following closely behind to lock the doors.

“Seriously, Lance, can’t I just wear what I’ve been wearing?”

“What, and look like you walked out of the 1970’s? Quiznak, no. We gotta get you into some royal regalia,” Hunk said. “You’ll be all majestic, Alfor will be so proud.”

“Yeah, he’s been trying to get Lance to adopt a Galra for nearly seven thousand years. He practically forced Lance to go to that auction, collapsed the tunnels for us, and then got called away on a diplomatic mission. He totally would have met you the day you were adopted, if not for that,” Pidge added.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to parade you around in the traditional Galra outfit. Too stuffy,” Lance said, eyes going wide as Pidge pulled an outfit that could only be described as slutty from the depths of his closet. It looked similar to the bikini worn by that one princess in the Terran space movie that Hunk and Pidge loved, and Lance immediately vetoed the idea with a yelp of, “where the fuck did you get that? NO‼‼”

Pidge giggled and tossed the outfit aside, going back into the wardrobe and pulling out item after item, handing them to Hunk, who dutifully held them up to Keith and made a decision, either throwing them to Lance or chucking them into a discard pile. Finally, Pidge gasped from inside the wardrobe and came out beaming, an item clutched behind her back.

“Lance, remember when we had that dinner with the royals from that one planet who could only see red light, so we all had to wear red everything until they left?”

“Of course I do. It took forever to get that dye out of my hair. Red is definitely not a good hair color on me.”

“Well, since you have a penchant for being unable to throw anything away, guess what I just found!” Pidge exclaimed, whipping the item around to her front to showcase it.

Keith gasped.  _ Red indeed _ . Most of the outfit was a gorgeous crimson, with an overcoat and pants, not unlike an Earth suit. It had accents and lines of gold, with a chest panel of white. Pidge handed the outfit to him before returning to the closet to rummage around for a couple of minutes. She exclaimed triumphantly, a pair of shoes flying into Keith’s arms from somewhere inside the wardrobe before Pidge extracted herself and stared at him proudly.

“Go ahead, put it on!”

“Lance is taller than me, though…”

“Oh, no problem,” Hunk said, pulling out a device that looked a bit like a TV remote. “This will adjust the sizes of the clothes to fit you. Put it on!”

Keith stared skeptically at the outfit, then at Lance, who made a “go ahead” gesture before turning around respectfully. Feeling a bit better, Keith began stripping, casting his clothes haphazardly onto the bed behind him. He ignored the snickers coming from Hunk and Pidge at the small bruises dotting his front as he pulled the outfit on.

“Did you two do something kinky in the training room? Holy hell, Allura’s going to be pissed,” Pidge giggled.

“That’s why she’s  _ never going to fucking find out _ , you two. Keith, you done?”

“Yeah,” came the timid affirmative from the hybrid. Lance turned around and gasped.

Even slightly too big, the outfit looked phenomenal on Keith. The red accented his gorgeous porcelain skin, playing well with the onyx of his hair. The purple of his violet eyes was brought out, making the irises sparkle. Hunk pushed him towards the full-length mirror, pressing a few buttons on the remote before finally pointing it towards the hybrid and hitting the largest button. The outfit immediately shrunk to the proper size, highlighting Keith’s body in a way that should have been illegal. Lance let his eyes trail all the way down the hybrid, both the front that he could see in the mirror and the back in front of him, just barely stifling a groan at how good the suit made his ass look.

“You’re drooling,” Pidge giggled at the prince, pulling Keith’s hair into an experimental ponytail and twisting a couple sections around before holding up various hair ornaments to it. “Oh man, Allura and I are so going to do your hair tomorrow. Wouldn’t it look nice with a couple of braids?”

“Definitely,” Lance said, wiping at the corner of his mouth. The small shudder that came from Keith at the sound of his slightly husky voice made him smirk. It was apparent that he wasn’t the only one affected.

Hunk and Pidge poked and prodded at the outfit for a few minutes, making sure the adjuster had done its job, before Lance finally got tired of it.

“Alright you two, you’re freaking him out. We’ll see you at dinner, ok?” Lance pushed his protesting friends out of his quarters and locked the door behind them, ignoring the shouting.

He turned around and sighed, picking up all the discarded clothes and using his telekinesis to return them to their hangers in his wardrobe. When the bikini made a reappearance, it was immediately chucked into the closet with a bit more force than necessary.

He heard a giggle from Keith, turning to glare at him. “What? It’s not mine. I think it’s Pidge’s, from a Terran convention or something. I’m sure it ended up in my closet for purely malicious reasons.”

“I figured,” Keith said. “I’m not sure how good you’d look in it anyway.”

“Um, excuse you, I look great in everything,” Lance replied accusingly, pulling the bottom of his shirt up to show Keith his abs. “Have you seen these?”

The hybrid went red, averting his eyes. “Not yet, I hadn’t. God, I’m not going to survive that festival. What you do to me…”

“Feeling’s mutual, Keith. Now, how about changing back into your other clothes so we can go to dinner?”

The prince watched in amusement as the red-clad man started trying to figure out how to get the outfit off of his body now that it actually fit. Lance turned around again respectfully, smiling softly at the wall. He was definitely looking forward to the Running tomorrow. Finally, Keith would be his.

* * *

Dinner passed almost without incident...until Allura noticed one of the hickeys on Keith’s neck halfway through.

“Keith,” she asked, hand gripping the knife, “did Lance do anything untoward to you?”

“No?” Keith responded, chewing his yalmor steak thoughtfully. “Why?”

“There’s a bruise on your neck that looks like a kiss mark. He didn’t do that without your permission, did he?”

“No,” Keith admitted, flushing prettily. “I consented to it.”

“Pretty enthusiastically, too,” Lance whispered with a smirk, making the hybrid blush furiously as he suddenly became extremely interested in what was on his plate.

“Lovely,” Allura beamed, going back to her dinner. “I’m glad you two are finally bonding. Pidge found a solution, then?”

“No, I was still kind of working on it.”

“We didn’t go all the way, sis,” Lance said nonchalantly, ignoring Pidge and Hunk’s snickering from the other side of the table. “He came to the training room and one thing led to another. I didn’t even feed him.”

“Excuse me? You did  _ what _ in my training room?”

Lance went pale. “Fuck.”

Keith could feel the murderous aura emanating from Allura, and slid to the chair closest to Pidge in the hopes that she would protect him.

“Don’t worry,” Pidge said, eyes focused on the Altean siblings, who were locked in a staring contest. “She’s only mad at Lance.”

Suddenly, the two were gone in a blur of movement, moving entirely too fast to be considered human. The blurs went around the room and then out the door, leaving Keith, Pidge, and Hunk, the latter two of whom calmly continued eating their dinner even as the wind left over from the chase blew their hair and clothes all around.

“What was that?” Keith asked, stunned. “I didn’t know Alteans could move that fast.”

“It’s not something they advertise to other races,” Hunk said. “Helps with recon missions and stuff. They’re in and out before anyone can sense them. Pretty cool, huh? If you live with us for long enough and Lance makes you immortal, you’ll get a bit faster, as well as being able to see them when they run like that.”

“What did they look like?”

“Lance was screaming,” Pidge described, “and Allura looked pissed. They’ll duke it out somewhere and come back. Lance is going to get his ass kicked.”

“Of course he is,” Hunk agreed, finishing his dinner with a look of satisfaction on his face. “That training room is sacred to Allura. I can’t believe Lance just told her like that.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, blushing and sliding down his chair a bit. “He instigated it, but I was the one who went along with it.”

“Good for you, Keith,” Pidge encouraged him. “It’s not that you two had sex, or at least, engaged in some sort of sexual activity, it’s the location where you did it. ‘Llura’s probably thrilled you guys finally did something. The sexual tension was terrible. She’s just pissed at Lance because he didn’t take you to a bedroom or something. Speaking of, have you told him about the serum yet?”

“No, but the Running is tomorrow. I think I’m going to tell him right before the race. I don’t even know if he’ll believe me.”

“He’ll believe you. Why would you lie?” Pidge asked.

“Quit hitting me with logic,” Keith grumbled, ruffling her hair good-naturedly.

“Quit being so anxious! Lance is super fond of you already, and he’s so excited for the Running that I’m sure he’ll only be shocked for a little while. If he wants to, he can call me after you tell him and I’ll give him the scientific side of things.”

“Thank god,” Keith said, taking a sip from the cup next to his now-empty dinner plate. “I don’t think I could make it through the scientific side without permanently becoming a tomato.”

“What, you don’t want to explain the ins and outs of the quintessence-absorbing glands of the anus to your beau?” Pidge asked, face completely deadpan.

Keith stared at her for a second before they both burst into laughter, Hunk groaning in disgust beside them.

“You guys, that’s so gross! Can we not discuss anal glands at the dinner table?”

It was at that moment that the Altean siblings came zooming through the door, resuming their places around the table like nothing had happened.

“That was quick,” Pidge said. “Who won?”

“Allura,” Lance replied, tearing into his yalmor steak. “I admitted that I shouldn’t have done that in the training room, and she admitted that she overreacted a bit. We beat each other up until we were both too hungry to continue, and we came back.”

“What’s this I heard about anal glands?” Allura asked innocently, making Lance choke on and subsequently spit out a piece of steak he’d been chewing.

“We were just discussing some of the lab results for Keith’s serum,” Pidge answered.

“Ah, I see. Have you found anything conclusive yet?”

“Yeah, actually,” Keith said, cutting off whatever Pidge was about to say. “But it’s a surprise for the Running, so we can’t tell you right now.”

“Fair enough,” Allura said, shrugging and going back to her dinner.

Lance, on the other hand, had a strange look on his face. It looked like half of him was thrilled with the news, but the other half was extremely conflicted. He finished his dinner on autopilot, chiming in on the conversation at appropriate times but never really engaging. Keith watched him as the evening went on, and eventually, it seemed, the prince had had enough.

Lance stood, walking to Keith’s chair and gently grabbing his wrist, tugging him out of the room.

“Sorry guys, I’m gonna borrow him. We gotta get to bed early, with Dad coming tomorrow and all. I wanna go to the market in the morning to get him some stuff for the banquet.”

“But what about dessert?” Hunk protested.

“Just send some of those cookies to my room.”

“Nuh-uh, you’ve had enough for today. I’ll send some in the morning.”

“Alright fine, fair enough. C’mon, Keith.”

* * *

Keith sighed in contentment when they reached Lance’s room, immediately heading for his closet and changing into his comfy pajamas. Lance did the same, and after completing their respective nightly routines (“No one needs that much face cream, Lance.” “Shut up Keith, not all of us can be effortlessly gorgeous!”), they crawled into bed together. Lance laid on his back with Keith half on his chest, face pressing between Lance’s pectorals and hands clasped together at Lance’s right side. Lance’s left hand lightly combed through Keith’s hair, neatly trimmed nails gently scraping his scalp.

“So, wanna tell me why you pulled me away from dinner so suddenly? I mean, I know we have to meet your Dad and all, but it seemed like there was something bothering you tonight.”

“When Allura and I fought, I…I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not you actually wanted what happened in the training room today. I mean, it’s only been a few weeks since you were rescued, so you shouldn’t be comfortable with that kind of contact. Despite that, you didn’t run out of the training room screaming, though I did have you screaming near the end,” Lance joked, trying to lighten the situation.

Keith sighed, propping himself up on his elbow so he could look Lance in the eyes. “Trust me, I wanted it. If I hadn’t, I would have kicked you in the balls and ran away. Why do you keep doubting that I want you?”

“Because of the way I found you after that auction,” Lance replied quietly, eyes beginning to well up. “I swore in that moment I’d never do anything you didn’t want me to do, but ever since then, I feel like I’ve been messing it all up. Especially with being so stubborn about not feeding you…that way.”

“But I openly consented. Why are you still torn up about it?”

“It’s stupid, I…”

“Lance. Tell me.”

“You’re not traumatized,” Lance growled. “Everything I’ve read about rescue Galra says that for all intents and purposes, they should be absolutely terrified of everyone and everything. They should take a while to warm up to their new masters, and even then, it takes forever to get them to trust you. So when you act like everything’s fine even though I just rescued you three weeks ago, I can’t help but wonder if you’re… if you’re wearing a mask, or something. Acting happy and non-traumatized so that I won’t pity you, or something idiotic like that. And if you’re faking not being traumatized, then that means you could also have faked your enthusiastic consent today. I just…I’m afraid that I’ve done something wrong, and that you’re a bit too okay for just having been rescued a few weeks ago. I’m not accusing you of anything, I’m just worried that you aren’t exhibiting the normal signs of trauma. I—I want to help you, but if you really are putting up those walls, then I have no way of doing so, and it makes me feel so damn helpless.”

Keith sighed, staring at Lance’s chest for a moment before moving. He swung his leg over Lance’s hips and straightened up, straddling the prince.

The hybrid stared into Lance’s eyes, hands resting comfortably on the prince’s stomach. “You know, you still haven’t looked at my memories. I won’t ask you to tonight, especially not with the meeting with your father tomorrow morning, but I think you should do it soon. The reason I’m not that traumatized is that I was only with Sendak for a little under two months.”

“Two months? But…”

“Yes, I know. He was only able to inject me with the serum twice during that time. The first time he did it was the first day I was there, when he tried to feed me and I scratched his eye out. In his hurry to inject and subdue me, he threw the ingredients list for the injection on the floor, as well as the prescription on it. I figured out pretty quickly that it was a drug used to prevent the heat, probably Sendak’s own so he could auction us off without worrying about his pheromones going crazy if he went into heat unexpectedly. Because the Galra side of me is the one that experiences the heat, when Sendak injected me with that, my Galra side wasn’t strong enough to fight it, and it went under.”

“So it was a suppressant,” Lance mused. “Can’t say I’m surprised. That would probably be the only way to suppress a hybrid’s Galra side, especially if they’re half-Terran and don’t have the same biology.”

“Exactly. That’s why he did it.”

“So then before Sendak. Who did you have?”

“My second-kindest master,” Keith said, voice beginning to wobble a bit. “He adopted me after I had been passed around for years. He had a beautiful farm on one of the planets in the Kelraxx system, and the only reason he wanted me was because he needed a farm hand. I went for cheap because the people of Kelraxx don’t really care for the slave trade. He grew the quintessence plants that grow on the Galra homeworld, and he fed me with those. I was with him for almost a year on that farm before they found me.”

“Oh, Keith…” Lance said, gently grasping the hybrid’s hands.

“I found out later that one of the locals had made a comment to a travelling merchant that there was a Terran-Galra hybrid in the village, and Sendak came to collect. They…they killed my master and burned his farm to the ground, forcing me to watch. Then they put me on their ship and took me to the auction house you found me at. Sendak tried to feed me the second day I was there, and the rest is history.”

Lance slowly sat up, careful not to jostle the hybrid as he rearranged his body so that Keith was comfortably resting on his lap, their chests pressed together as the prince pulled the hybrid into a bone-crushing hug.

“I will never, ever allow anything to happen to you again, do you understand me? It’s only been a few weeks, but I swear on Mom, Keith, I think…I think I love you.”

A soft gasp escaped the hybrid, and he gently pushed the prince away, eyes shining with tears as he stared, wide-eyed, into Lance’s own blue irises. “Are you serious?”

“Keith, I’ve always been fast to fall in love. Hunk and Pidge will tell you—there have been a couple of people I’ve met at ambassador’s parties that I just clicked with. I never got as far as sleeping with any of them, but I was engaged once.”

“Engaged?”

Lance sighed, taking Keith’s hands into his own. “Her name was Nyma. She was a representative from another coalition that my father had invited to a party here on Altea Prime. She and I…it was like love at first sight, or so I thought. I courted her for ages before she finally decided to accept, and then we started going out. We were together for a year before I asked her to marry me.”

“What happened?” Keith asked.

“The night before the wedding, I was reading her a poem I’d written about her. She sat there in silence and made it halfway through before she blew up and told me she didn’t actually love me, she didn’t want to marry me, and why the fuck wouldn’t I just sleep with her already? It turned out she’d been sent to Altea on an assignment—seduce me and get a sample of my quintessence. I never had sex with her because I wanted to wait for marriage and the approval of the Druids, since my quintessence was almost guaranteed to get her pregnant and the Druids don’t look kindly on illegitimate heirs.”

“I can’t imagine you were happy with what she said,” Keith said.

“Yeah, I physically threw her out of my quarters and told the guards to arrest her. She wasn’t actually part of the coalition she’d said she was—she had incapacitated the actual ambassador and stolen her ship. The ambassador was alive and well in cryosleep inside the cargo hold when we searched the ship. I had Father hand Nyma over to the coalition so they could deal with her as they liked. I never heard from her again.”

“When did this happen?”

“Oh, about a thousand years ago, give or take,” Lance said nonchalantly, smiling at Keith, though his eyes were a bit watery. “Nyma was a species that had an extremely long lifespan, though not as long as ours. I’m pretty sure she’s still alive, out there somewhere with a little piece of my heart.”

“I’m sorry she did that to you,” Keith murmured, pressing his forehead to Lance’s and staring into the prince’s eyes. “But the rest of that heart belongs to me. I know you’ve been burned in the past, but I promise you, I have absolutely no intention of leaving you. Not after everything. I was traumatized, yeah, when you first rescued me. I thought you were just another cruel master in a very, very long line. But you were kind to me, and you never once threatened to hit me, or rape me. You killed my tormentor, and you helped so many other Galra from that place escape. I still have plenty of scars, and I have nightmares more often than not. I may always have them, but I’m well on my way to healing. Falling for you has helped with that.”

The tears started falling, and Lance smiled wide as he pressed a gentle kiss to Keith’s lips, the tears trickling over his own making the hybrid gasp as they made contact with his tongue.

“Thank you for that. I’m so glad you agreed to do the Running with me. I’ll make sure it feels fantastic for you.”

A blush started to spread across Keith’s cheeks as the implications of what, exactly, was going to feel so fantastic hit him. Lance flashed him a cocky smirk, pressing as much of his body against the hybrid as he could manage in their position.

“Up for a reprise of the training room?”

“As much as I want to…and dear God, do I want to…we have to be up early tomorrow to go to the market, and then the banquet to meet your father. I’d rather not be covered in hickies for that first impression,” Keith said, lightly shoving Lance back onto the pillows so he could crawl under the blankets and sprawl himself over the prince’s chest again.

“Nah, I don’t think Dad would like that. He’ll see them after the Running, though,” Lance mused. “I get bitey when I’m extremely aroused. The pillows from my bedroom when I was going through what Terrans refer to as puberty can attest to that.”

The prince felt Keith shiver against him, and he laughed as the hybrid started purring. His Galra side was starting to resurface, it seemed. A fist made contact none-too-lightly with his side. “Stop trying to turn me on! I want to go to bed!”

“Ooh, your Galra side likes bitey, huh?”

Keith buried his face further into the prince’s chest, cheeks burning. “Yes, it does. You of all people should know it’s how Galra mates show ownership of each other, by having lingering bites all over the body. Bites at the nape of the neck are extremely special, as it is the ultimate sign of trust to allow your mate to bite you at such a vulnerable place.”

“Well,” Lance said, tipping Keith’s head up so he could look at him. The prince smiled, his normally smaller Altean fangs just slightly lengthened. Keith whimpered. “I can assure you that you won’t make it out of the Running without my marks allllll over you.”

Keith groaned, headbutting Lance’s stomach. “That’s it. You’re gonna kill me if this keeps up. I’m going to sleep.”

There was quiet in the room for a few minutes until the prince spoke again.

“Before you do,” Lance said, sounding a bit nervous, “can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Keith replied, worried. “Anything.”

“Did any of your other masters bite you?”

Keith sighed, snuggling further into Lance’s chest before he answered. “No. When I was first taken, I hadn’t hit puberty yet. It actually took until I was 14 for me to go through it. Up until that point, my masters had to feed me through transfusion, like Sendak fed Katya after he kidnapped her. When I was first taken, I was sold to a master who was supposed to train me to become a pleasure slave, but because I was so young, I was given to an older Galra at the compound so she could take care of me until puberty hit. She taught me everything I know—all the fighting techniques you saw in the training room today, plus math, science, languages… everything. Once I started to go through the changes, she knew she had to get me out of there.”

“What was her name?”

“She never told me. None of us had names there, just numbers. We wore tags around our necks that identified us. That night, she ripped the tag off of me and picked me up. Galra are extremely strong, and she definitely proved it that night. She ran for what seemed like ages, and we ended up at a spaceport. She begged one of the captains to take me, offering all sorts of things we didn’t have. In the end, all he wanted were the tags she’d taken off my neck. The captains knew what the compound was for, knew why they brought high-paying customers to the planet only to leave with twice or three times the amount of people. None of them could say no due to their boss, but one of them was willing to smuggle me off the planet. He took me to a center for Galra like me, but it was corrupt, and it wasn’t long before I got sold to a master.”

“Keith… I’m so sorry.”

“That was the first one I ever had that fed me through raping me, and that’s where I learned to dissociate,” Keith murmured. “But he wasn’t Galra. None of my masters were, until Sendak. I went through 7 masters between when I escaped the compound and when you rescued me. I was strong willed because of my friend at the compound, and I never stopped fighting. That included my time with Sendak, and I never let him bite me. Never. I always fought back with him, even when I dissociated.”

“So I’ll be the first to bite you?”

“Yes,” Keith said, leaning up to kiss the prince gently on the lips. “And I trust you to be the first. The offer to look through my memories is still open, Lance, but I know you’d rather not do it now. That’s why I told you…why you’re the first person I’ve ever told. The bite is extremely important to Galra. She taught me that. Now are you satisfied, so we can please go to bed?”

“Yes,” Lance said, laughing. “You’ll need your rest for Dad. I think he’s going to be really, really happy to see you. Galra and Terrans are his two favorite species he’s encountered since he started his space travel, and you’re a perfect combination of the two. He’s going to be ecstatic.”

“Looking forward to it,” Keith replied, sounding like he was already halfway asleep.

Lance chuckled. “Good night, Keith.”

“Good night, Lance.”

* * *

Thankfully, Keith made it through the night without any terrible dreams. He woke to the prince slowly rubbing his back, light streaming in through the window.

“Good morning, beautiful. You awake?”

Keith groaned, tucking his face further into Lance’s side. “Nope.”

The prince laughed. “If you’re responding to me, you’re obviously awake.”

“Nope. Not awake. I’m sleep talking.”

“Hmm,” Lance hummed, eyes taking on a playful glint. “Well, I guess if you’re really asleep, I’ll just have to tickle you to wake you up.”

Keith’s head came up, hair wild, and he glared at the prince warningly. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would,” Lance said, grin wide, and brought his fingers to the hybrid’s side.

Twenty minutes later, both of them were dressed and mostly awake. The door chimed, and Lance left Keith to go answer it.

“Morning!” Hunk said when the door opened, brandishing a tray of cookies and a wide smile. “I was going to send them up, but you guys mentioned yesterday that you were going to the market and I wanted to see if Katie and I could come with you. Alfor brought some stuff back for her to tinker with, but she needs some supplies from the market, and we figured we’d tag along with you guys.”

Lance leaned his head back into the room. “Keith, is it okay if Hunk and Pidge come with today?”

Keith peeked out from where he’d been trying to tame his bedhead in the mirror in the ensuite bathroom. “Sure! I don’t mind.”

Lance turned back to Hunk, smiling, and picked a cookie off the tray. “Yeah, we were going to leave in about an hour after we’d had breakfast. Think Dad’ll join us?”

“Nah,” Hunk said, pulling the tray out of Lance’s reach when he tried for another cookie. “He’s been in a debriefing meeting with Coran, Allura, Shiro, and some of the advisors since he got back. I think he’ll be in there for the rest of the day, at least until the banquet starts.”

“I’m not surprised, with how urgently he was pulled away. Keith, you almost done?”

“I  _ am _ done,” came Keith’s voice from behind Lance as a pale arm sneaked out around the prince’s body to grab a cookie. The hybrid appeared beside Lance, giving Hunk a thumbs up as he took the first bite from the treat.

“Glad you like them. Ready for breakfast?”

“Yeah. Is Pidge already in the dining room?”

“No, she’s been in her room since your dad brought her the souvenirs. I’ll tell her to come down for breakfast.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him out of his room, shutting the door behind them, and the three set off down the hallway.

“We’re eating in the small dining room again today,” Hunk said. “They’re setting the big one up for the banquet.”

“Do they have a banquet for the Running every year?” Keith asked, curious.

“Yeah, it’s a super old tradition from when Alteans used to live in villages. The whole village would come together to share a meal, chat, and pick the person they wanted to chase in the Running or who they wanted to be chased by. The Hunters gave their Runner a token of their affection, usually a handmade craft object like a hand carving or a piece of handmade jewelry.”

“The handmade items aren’t really a thing anymore,” Lance added. “You can just buy them something pretty, and the more unique the item is and the better it suits the Runner’s personality, the better the gift is considered.”

“Runners give their Hunters a piece of their clothing,” Hunk explained. “That’s a vestige of when Alteans had prominent scent glands and could track each other through their scents. The piece of clothing would have the person’s scent on it, so their Hunter wouldn’t lose their trail.”

“Normally we don’t have pronounced scent glands, but they show up during the festival week. It’s a side effect of the increase in hormones. Our noses also get more sensitive and we’re able to track scents. Sometime before this evening when the Running starts, you’ll need to give me a piece of your clothing with your scent on it so I can track you,” Lance said to Keith. “Even if it’s a bracelet or a necklace that’s been close to your scent glands, it’ll work.”

“I...I have scent glands?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, even though you’re only half, you have Galra scent glands. They probably aren’t active all the time, only when you’re really excited, really angry, or really scared,” Hunk said.

“I could smell your scent yesterday in the training room,” Lance said, smirking. “You left some of your scent in my hair when you grabbed it, too.”

“Got it, so I just need to wear a watch for a bit today?” Keith asked, ignoring Lance’s comment.

“Yeah, or even just a leather bracelet. Anything that’ll keep a scent.”

“We’ll find you something in the market,” Lance suggested. “That way, it’ll be on you for long enough that your scent should be in it by the time you give it to me.”

They reached the dining room and stepped inside. Pidge waved at them from the table, eyes trained on a strange device in front of her. “Morning! I told the machine to make breakfast a while ago, so it should be just about done.”

“Bringing your work to the table?” Lance asked, eyebrow raised. “Allura would be ashamed.

“Good thing she isn’t here to scold me then, isn’t it?” Pidge shot back, eyes still on the device. “Hunk, bring me a plate please.”

Lance and Keith sat down as Hunk went to the machine and opened the door. The smell of cooked bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes spread throughout the room, and Keith smiled, closing his eyes and taking in the scent.

“Smells like home, huh? The Altean scrambled eggs are a little rubbery, and the bacon isn’t as salty as we’re used to on Earth, but the pancakes are spot on.”

Keith opened his eyes to find Pidge smiling at him from across the table. He smiled back, but was quickly distracted as Hunk placed a plate piled high with eggs, bacon, and a couple of pancakes on the table in front of him. He did the same for Lance, Pidge, and himself before closing the door on the machine and sitting down in his spot.

“Too bad we haven’t had any coffee shipped here recently,” Lance mused, digging into his food. “I’d kill for some of that.”

“Oh man, I’d love a cup of coffee right now,” Pidge said, groaning as she finally put down the machine and began to eat her breakfast. “Alfor came back early this morning and gave me this thing, and I haven’t taken a break since. I’m dead at this point.”

“What is it?” Keith asked.

“Some sort of translation device, I think. It was a gift from the people Alfor was meeting for the diplomatic position. Apparently, the reason he got pulled away so fast is because they’d just won a war against the really nasty race that’d been ruling their planet for hundreds of years, and they needed him to show up at the end of the battle to really rub it into their faces that they’d won and had the full support of the Altean empire behind them.”

“Dad’s been deploying troops out there for years,” Lance piped up, finishing off his scrambled eggs. “I’m glad they finally won. Not for lack of trying on the other side’s part, though. I think if they dropped one more bomb, Dad would have been out there fighting them himself.”

“What did they bomb?” Keith asked, crunching on his bacon.

“Orphanages, hospitals, schools...” When Pidge noticed Keith’s horrified expression, she chose not to continue. “Yeah, they’re really nasty.”

“Alfor’s still got his work cut out for him though. They don’t want to be a formal part of the empire, which would require an Altean governor out there to watch over them, but they would like to maintain trade and model their new society after the Altean one,” Hunk said. “At least, that’s what Shiro told me.”

“You talked to him? I thought that meeting was supposed to go all day,” Lance said.

“He sent me a message begging me to rescue him from the debrief meeting. Apparently it’s  _ really _ boring.”

“They always are,” Lance mused, bringing the last bite of pancake on his plate to his mouth. “Done, Keith?”

Keith nodded, swallowing his last bite and smiling at Lance. “Yeah.”

“Pidge? You gonna leave that thing alone for a couple hours so we can go to the market? I’ll buy you one of those kebabs you like.”

“Dude. The ones Sal makes?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go. We should probably be back here at least an hour before the banquet starts, though.”

“Wait, when is this banquet supposed to begin?” Keith asked. “Aren’t banquets usually dinner?”

“On Earth, yeah,” Pidge said.

“Here is a little different,” Lance said. “From lunchtime until the first sun sets, we have a big banquet where we put out a giant table and chairs and we all sit together and eat traditional Altean food. Then an hour before the second sun sets, we’ll have to head to our separate places to check in for the Running, then I’ll be with the big group of Hunters. You’ll just need to come over to me and give me the item with your scent on it, and a bell will sound to signal when you guys get to go into the forest. Two hours later, the Hunters follow.”

“I can’t wait,” Keith said, “But we don’t have that much time until the banquet starts, right? I’d like to actually see the market, not just speed through it trying to find something.”

“Good idea,” Hunk replied, gathering all the plates at the table and placing them in the dishwasher. “Ready Katie?”

“Yup,” she says, still eyeing the device. “Gotta put this thing in my quarters where no one will find it, and then I’ll be ready to go.”

Lance and Hunk both laugh at that, and Keith looks between them, confused. “What?”

“Her room’s an absolute mess,” Lance says, chuckling. “She could probably just set that thing in a corner somewhere and no one would lay eyes on it again.”

“Shut up,” Pidge says. “Hunk, come with me. Lance, Keith, we’ll meet you at the front doors okay?”

“Ok.” With that, the prince and his hybrid headed for the front doors, hand in hand.

“You know, I could just give you one of my gloves,” Keith said. “Those should have my scent in them, right?”

“You could,” Lance said. “But you’re going to be wearing a traditional garb for the Running, and they won’t let you have the gloves. You’d have to smuggle one in. Simple leather bracelets or similar items, on the other hand, are allowed and much easier to wear. Besides, I want to buy something for you at the market. It’s tradition in my family, considering how Mom and Dad met.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll let you buy me something,” Keith said, chuckling. “Though that traditional garb you mentioned makes me nervous.”

“Don’t be, it’s not super revealing or anything. For the Runners, it’s a skintight black and purple suit. The design has changed over the years, especially when the Galra became a larger part of our society. It’s a little tight but it covers everything, and helps to camouflage you.”

“Why do they do it at night?”

“This time of the solar cycles, the bioluminescence of the planet goes into overdrive. Altea is a naturally bioluminescent planet—hell, even us Alteans are bioluminescent. You’ve seen my eyes and scales glow before. During the week of the fertility festival, everything starts glowing super brightly when the suns set, including us. We can dim it on command though, so Altean Runners aren’t easily caught if someone sees their face scales.”

“Cool,” Keith said. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“It’s beautiful, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to share it with you,” Lance said, kissing Keith’s forehead. They reached the foyer and stood off to the side by the large door, trying to dodge the servants setting up for the huge banquet. Keith watched in awe as a giant table was assembled piece by piece, nearly covering the span of the entire room. The servants who weren’t assembling the table were following behind, placing chairs after each section of table was completed.

Lance pulled Keith to his side, pointing out the chairs at the head of the table, nestled back towards the heart of the castle. “That’s where we’ll be sitting. Dad sits in the one in the middle, Allura sits in the one on the right, and I sit in the one on the left. Then, Allura’s companions will sit next to her, starting with Shiro. On the other side, it’ll be you, me, then Coran. He likes to sit closest to the rest of the people because he loves to socialize. Dad offers him a spot next to him every year, but he’s never taken it.”

“Um...will I have to talk to people?”

“Hell no,” Lance said. “I’ll warn you, there’s going to be lots of very curious people there wondering what my Galra Companion is like. However, I won’t let them get close to you. Plus, everyone is going to be distracted with all the pheromones in the air, so hopefully even if they’re curious, they shouldn’t approach us.”

“I hope not. Speaking of, Pidge and Hunk said there are spells that prevent anything happening without consent at the Running. How do I activate those, in case something happens?”

“It’ll actually be explained to you before the Running,” Lance explained. “From what I’ve heard, the Runners all gather in a tent and they basically get a rundown of how it works, even if they’ve participated before. There’s the spells you mentioned, which do some pretty nasty things to anyone who tries to touch a Runner without that Runner’s consent. However, there’s also spells that make these little domes where a Runner and their Hunter can fit comfortably, and not be seen or heard by anyone outside the dome. Traditionally, the, uh, noises and everything are supposed to be heard throughout the forest, but we’ve gotten more prudish over the years with the addition of all the people from other planets, so the noise muffling spells are taught to every Runner, even if they don’t use it. I guess you’ll probably want to use it, right?”

“Uh, yes,” Keith said, blushing. “I can use it even if I’m not Altean?”

“Oh yeah, the spells are cast by the Druids in a layer over the forest. If you want to use them, you just have to use an incantation to form them and an incantation to release them. It’s super easy!”

“Thank god,” Keith said, chuckling. “I was thinking I’d have to have a crash course in magic before this evening.”

“Discussing spells already? You two are prepared,” Hunk observed as he and Pidge arrived in the foyer, dodging servants as they headed towards the front door and Keith and Lance.

“Nothing wrong with that!” Lance said cheerfully. “Ready to head to the market? I figure we’ll just stick to the jewelry and clothing section, then head to the food section for some of Sal’s kebabs as a snack before we come back here for the banquet.”

“Sounds good to me!” Hunk said. “Are we taking the car?”

“Yeah, I don’t particularly want to deal with the hoverbike today. Too much traffic. I’m sure the market is going to be crazy busy as well. Hopefully we’ll be able to find what we need,” Lance mused, squeezing Keith’s hand.

“Well, the later it gets, the busier it’ll get, so let’s get going,” Pidge said, opening the door and walking out. Lance tapped a button on his handheld, summoning the car to the doors. They all hopped into the limo-style backseat and made their slow way to the market.

Keith’s eyes went wide as they stepped out of the car into the market. The sight of so many people, so many stalls, was something he’d never seen before. The smells of the food section of the market wafted around them, a melting pot of many different planet’s cuisines. With his senses heightened from the influence of the fertility festival, Keith swore he could even smell his dad’s chili, exactly the way it had smelled all those years ago simmering in a big pot on the stove.

“Keith? You okay?” Lance asked.

“Y-yeah, sorry. I thought I smelled...never mind. Is this the jewelry section here?”

“Yep! I think Hunk and Pidge are going to split off and go to the tech part. Did you guys need anything from this part? Or do you just want to meet at Sal’s stand after we find what we need?”

“That’ll work. See you later, lovebirds,” Pidge said as she headed off in the other direction, one hand dragging Hunk with her and the other waving to the prince and the hybrid. As they blended into the crowd and out of sight, Lance turned to Keith, smiling and intertwining their hands.

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. They too walked into the crowd, and for once Keith didn’t feel like running in the other direction, screaming at the top of his lungs. Lance’s hand in his was like an anchor, keeping him tied into his body, unable to dissociate.

They strolled past the stalls, mostly window shopping. Keith didn’t really know what they were looking for, but it seemed Lance did. Occasionally, the prince would pull him towards a stall, cooing over something or other that the vendor had on their table. Keith loved watching the process—Lance would pick up a couple pieces, give them an inspection, hold them up to Keith’s wrist or his eyes. The vendor, usually having recognized the prince at that point, would wait, staring at them with hopeful, pleading eyes. When Lance would inevitably set the item back down on the table, the vendor would look disappointed—until Lance tossed them a coin of Altea’s traditional currency. Then, they’d proceed on to the next booth.

“We must have seen half the market’s stuff by now. Are you ever going to find a bracelet, or do I just need to make one?” Keith asked teasingly, tugging Lance’s hand in resistance as he tried to lead the hybrid to another stall.

The prince paused, stopping to turn around to face Keith. “Sorry... I’m just—this is my first Running, and I want it to be perfect, you know? Oh man, I got completely into it. I didn’t realize it had been so long. Are you hungry? Do we need to go meet with Hunk and Pidge?”

“Lance, no,” Keith said, laughing. He pulled the prince into a hug, kissing Lance’s cheek. “I’m enjoying this! I promise. I just think you’re thinking about this too hard. I don’t need anything special. Like you said, it just needs to be something that’ll pick up my scent, right? It can be super simple, something like...” Keith looked around, spotting the perfect thing. “That.”

He dragged the prince toward a nondescript booth, less gaudily decorated than the others. The woman behind the table was dressed simply, nowhere near the extravagant outfits of the other vendors. As Keith drew closer, the prince in tow, he noticed she was blind. Even so, she seemed to sense their arrival, a warm smile spreading across her face as the prince and the hybrid came to a stop in front of her table.

“Hello, darlings. Has something caught your eye at my humble booth?”

“Yes,” Keith said. “Can you give me the leather bracelet there, with the chain?”

“Of course,” the woman said, turning around to retrieve the item. It was a simple braided leather bracelet, with a chain fastening. As she brought it out of the case and closer to the couple, though, Lance could see why it had caught Keith’s eye—interwoven into the leather braid, there were two threads, one of blue and one of red.

“It’s perfect,” Lance breathed, a little embarrassed that he’d searched so long for something and Keith had found the perfect item without even trying. The vendor fastened it around Keith’s wrist, and the hybrid pulled it closer to his face so he could admire it.

“It’s sustainable Yalmor leather with dyed strands of Sythra hair. I made it to hold scent oils, but it will do nicely for your purposes,” the woman said, smirking. “It will make a fine token for the Running.”

Lance made to grab his wallet, but at the sound of jingling coins, the woman shook her head. “No need to pay, your Majesty. Count me in with those who are happy you have finally chosen a Companion. Enjoy the festival, hmm?”

Lance blushed a deep red, and Keith laughed as he tugged them away from the booth. They settled into a brisker pace than they’d used earlier, now that their mission had been completed, and headed toward the food section. Keith could already smell the kebabs that Hunk and Pidge had been talking about.

“Lance, she was blind right? How could she tell who you were?”

“Alteans with physical disabilities are taken in and trained by the government to use their quintessence to be able to adapt their other senses or limbs to compensate for their disability. For her, I’m sure she can ‘see’ with her quintessence, like she could see auras. From what I’ve been told, my quintessence is pretty blinding, even for a member of the royal family. Shiro is another example—that arm of his runs off of quintessence. Even though he’s not Altean, the quintessence he gets from Allura is enough to keep his arm up and running so it functions normally.”

“That’s Galra tech though, right?”

“Yeah, it was made by an artisan specifically for Shiro. He’ll have to tell you how he lost the arm sometime. It’s something I think you should hear from him.”

Keith shrugged, jostling their intertwined hands. “No worries. I figured I’d ask him when we got more familiar. It’s not really something you ask someone you’ve just met.”

“Why not—I did!” Lance said, laughing. “Hey, we’re here.”

As they rounded the corner past the last jewelry stall, Keith’s mouth immediately started watering as the smells from all the different food vendors wafted in his direction.

Lance looked over at him and laughed. “Oh, babe. Just wait until you actually eat it.”

Keith spotted Hunk waving at him from a picnic table in the middle of the food section, Pidge hunched over some inexplicably technological something-or-other across the table from him. He pulled Lance along with him, weaving through the crowd and between other tables before finally reaching their destination.

“Hey guys! Find what you need?”

Keith proudly held his wrist forward so Hunk could see the bracelet. He gently grabbed Keith’s hand and cooed over the bracelet. Even Pidge raised her head from her gizmo to give an approving nod.

“What about you two? I see Pidge has found yet another project to tinker with.”

“It’s a decommissioned robot. It’s Galra tech, I’ve wanted one for ages. I’m going to reactivate it, it’ll be awesome!”

“You have fun with that,” Lance said. “Have you guys gotten any kebabs yet?”

“Nah,” Hunk replied, scooting over so Keith could sit next to him. Lance took the spot next to Pidge. “We figured we’d wait until you guys got here. I’ll just signal him, do you want one or two?”

“I’ll just have one, I want to save room for the banquet,” Lance said.

“I’ll only have one as well. I’m sure they’re delicious, but I don’t want to waste it if I end up not liking it,” Keith admitted.

“Don’t worry, Hunk will eat it if you don’t. He helped perfect the recipe on these things. Actually, he’s the whole reason Sal is still in business.”

“Really?” Keith asked.

Hunk turned back to the table from where he’d twisted, raising a hand in the direction of a heavy-set purple alien operating a stall near where they were sitting. “Yeah...it was kind of a misunderstanding during one of the first times Lance and Allura brought us here. I brought the wrong kind of currency and ordered something there and had eaten most of it when he asked me to pay up. When I couldn’t pay him, he chained me in the stall and made me wash dishes.”

“That’s horrible!” Keith exclaimed.

“Nah, it turned out alright. I ended up taking over his kitchen for a while and improving his menu. Now we’re super good friends, so we always get kebabs for free when we come out here. Before I ended up on the streets on Terra, I wanted to be a chef, so it was definitely one of the times where my background ended up coming in handy!”

“I’ll say so,” Pidge said, finally raising her head from her project. “I can smell the kebabs already.”

Sure enough, there was Sal himself bringing a plate of kebabs over to the table. As he set them down, Keith’s eyes went wide. They looked as delicious as they smelled, and he couldn’t wait to try one.

“I see you brought a new recruit,” Sal said, smirking.

“I sure did,” Hunk said, giving the chef a fist bump. “Did you get those ingredients I sent you?”

“Yes, they were awesome. That plant was the perfect topping for my new dessert. Come by later and try it, alright?”

“Sure thing,” Hunk replied, smiling. The Galra returned to his stall, leaving the four to drool over the fresh kebabs.

“Well, Keith, you get the honors since you’re the newest. Pick a kebab and try it!” Pidge said.

Keith did as he was told, selecting one of the still-steaming skewers from the pile. He gingerly pulled a hot cube of meat off of the skewer. He blew on the piece and brought it to his mouth, the other three at the table watching his every move like hawks.

As soon as the meat hit his tongue, Keith couldn’t help it—his eyes slid closed, his face relaxing into a picture of bliss. He chewed, savoring the incredible flavors. A slapping sound startled him out of his reverie, and he opened his eyes to see Hunk and Pidge high-fiving.

“See, I told you he’d like it.”

“Like it? Oh my god, I’m in love. Sorry Lance, but I think I’m going to have to marry Sal. Or Hunk. Whoever came up with this recipe,” Keith said, already grabbing another piece of meat off of the skewer.

“They are pretty incredible,” Lance agreed, mouth full. “The food at the banquet will be good too, but I figured since we’re at the market anyway, we might as well get these.”

After that, no one talked for a little bit, as their mouths were all too busy. Before long, a sound rang out from the spire of the castle, sending a light blue shockwave across the sky and seemingly through the entire planet.

“Oh hey, that’s the half hour signal for the banquet,” Lance said, polishing off the last of the meat on his second skewer. Hunk the all-knowing had ordered extra kebabs for all of them, knowing that they’d want them even with the banquet. “Everyone ready to leave?”

“Yeah,” Keith said, licking the sauce off of his fingers. “Do we just leave the plate here?”

“Yeah, Sal will send someone to grab it,” Hunk said. “Lance, where’d you park the car again?”

“I didn’t. I put it on autovalet. When we get back to the street, I’ll call it.”

With that, they strolled out of the market, Pidge following behind with her head still buried in her new project. As Lance had promised, the car came to meet them and they piled in, heading to the castle. The traffic heading for the banquet was impressive, and the trip ended up being longer than they thought. Keith and Lance sat together, hands intertwined, Keith’s head resting on Lance’s shoulder and Lance slowly rubbing Keith’s hand.

“Excited for the banquet?” Hunk asked Keith.

“Yes,” the hybrid replied, snuggling further into Lance. “I’m not sure if it’s the festival or the anti-heat meds wearing off, but I’m super hungry now. Those two kebabs weren’t nearly enough.”

“I’m glad you’ve got a good appetite,” Lance said. “I was a little worried you’d be nervous about tonight.”

“Why would I be nervous? I’ll be with you,” Keith said, rising up to kiss Lance on the cheek before settling back against his shoulder. The Altean blushed and grinned.

“Gross,” Pidge said good-naturedly, the first words she’d spoken since the beginning of the traffic jam, as her attention had been entirely on her new acquisition.

Finally, they arrived at the castle and Lance immediately whisked Keith away to their rooms to get dressed. He pulled the red outfit out of the closet, winking at Keith before turning around respectfully to let the other man change. He pulled his own royal garb out of the closet, putting it on with practiced ease before turning around.

Keith looked incredible in the get-up, especially now that it fit him, and Lance’s quintessence writhed around inside him. The prince walked to Keith, eyes glowing blue, and kissed him. The hybrid wrapped his arms around the prince and deepened the kiss, moaning quietly. He pulled away to breathe after a little bit, but didn’t pull far, keeping his arms around Lance’s neck.

“If you keep that up we’re not going to make it to the banquet,” Keith murmured, running his fingers through the short hairs on the back of Lance’s head.

“I know. I just thought you were gorgeous, and I couldn’t help myself. All ready? Your bracelet on?”

Keith pulled his wrist back from Lance’s neck to show him the leather band still securely around his wrist. “Yep. Oh, and before we go to the banquet, I want to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Promise you’ll believe me?”

“Of course,” Lance said, concerned. “What is it?”

“Remember how Pidge and I were trying to find a solution to the whole quintessence overload thing? Well, we found one.”

Lance grabbed the hybrid’s hands and drew him to the bed, sitting them both down at the foot of the bed. “And?”

“There isn’t one. It was super embarrassing, but Pidge extracted some of my glands and tested them against your quintessence. Basically, the way she explained it, I’m kind of like a battery that can be supercharged. Because of my hybrid status, my mom’s genetics, my dad’s genetics, and how they ended up working out, I’m literally built to withstand super powerful quintessence like yours. So, I don’t need to take anything, and you don’t have to wear a condom.”

“Are you serious?” Lance asked.

“Absolutely,” Keith replied. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Lance.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Lance said, pulling the hybrid into a hug. “I’m just so thrilled that I’m having a hard time believing it. Are you telling me we could have been having sex this whole time?”

Keith blushed. “Um, yeah. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to save it for the festival. It seemed...special.”

“Keith, darling,” Lance cooed, kissing the hybrid’s forehead. “You deserve to have our first time be special. If out in the forest under the stars surrounded by bioluminescent plants is your ideal? I have absolutely no objections.”

Keith smiled and kissed the prince, and they sat there kissing until Lance’s communicator beeped.

“’From Pidge: Stop sucking face and get down here, the banquet is about to start’.” Lance giggled. “How does she know?”

“She saw the way you reacted to me in this outfit the first time,” Keith said, elbowing him. “She probably figured it out from there.”

Lance shrugged, pecking the hybrid on the lips one last time before pulling them both off the bed. He grabbed Keith’s hand and led him out of the room and down the hallway back towards the main ballroom of the castle. True to Pidge’s word, the room was largely empty with the exception of the Altean royal family and their companions. Allura, Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk were already seated, engaged in a deep conversation, and Coran and Alfor were standing at the head of the table. As Lance and Keith approached, the king turned toward them, smiling. Lance waved to him, gesturing to the hybrid beside him.

“Dad! Hey! This is Keith, my Companion.”

“Nice to meet you,” Keith said nervously, a bit intimidated to be standing in front of someone who ruled more planets than he’d ever see in his lifetime. Though, with Lance’s promise to make him immortal, perhaps he would get to see Alfor’s realm in its entirety.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Keith,” Alfor greeted warmly. “Coran has been telling me all about you. Are you excited for the banquet?”

“Yes, I definitely am. Lance has been telling me all about traditional Altean food for a while now, so I’m looking forward to trying some of it.”

“Well, we have plenty!” Alfor leaned in, a mischievous smirk on his face as he whispered conspiratorially: “Don’t eat the green goo. I love my daughter dearly, but it’s her favorite food and it is utterly terrible.”

Keith laughed, glancing over to where Allura and Shiro were still engaged in a deep conversation. “Understood. I’ll stay away from it.”

Alfor lightly patted him on the shoulder, obviously an old hat around traumatized and recovering Galra, before heading back towards Coran. The two chatted as Lance and Keith took their seats at the table, Lance keeping his promise to keep himself between Keith and the other people who would be sitting at the table. Hunk waved to the hybrid from across the table, and Keith waved back. Pidge gave him a thumbs-up and a smirk before making an obscene gesture with her hands, and Keith blushed before flipping her off.

“Alright, I think it’s about time to get this party started!” Coran said, clapping his hands together. A small figure came out of the kitchen door and stood expectantly next to him, and Lance and Keith both smiled and waved when they realized it was Katya.

“Hello, dear,” Coran said. “Would you mind telling the kitchen staff to start bringing out dishes?”

“Of course,” Katya said, bowing. She sent a small wave towards the prince and his hybrid before heading back into the kitchen. After she left, Alfor pressed a button on his communicator and the grand doors of the castle opened wide, the citizens of Altea neatly streaming inside.

It was the most put-together thing Keith had ever seen—everyone seemed to have assigned seats, which they reached with the help of their communicators. The kitchen staff brought out the dishes, and to Keith’s surprise, as soon as the first dish was set on the table, a circular conveyor belt turned on and brought the dish around the entire table. It left enough room outside of it for people to fit a plate and a glass, and moved slowly enough that it was easy to retrieve a good amount of food before the dish moved on from each spot.

“You like it? Pidge invented it after we kept complaining about the dining table not being efficient enough to feed so many people. We had hovering serving boards, but they could only hold so much food before they had to go back for more. Now, we use them for drinks since the table takes care of the food,” Lance said in Keith’s ear, as the volume of the room had increased exponentially as people assumed their spots.

“That’s incredible. It reminds me of a restaurant my dad and I used to go to when I was little. He was half-Korean and half-Japanese, so he liked sushi. The restaurant had a little conveyor belt for the sushi, and you could just pick up what you wanted off the belt.”

Lance laughed. “That’s where Pidge got the idea!”

The table continued to fill up, and as Lance promised, the flying drink trays began making their rounds,

“Listen, Keith, if the drink on the tray is brown, don’t take it. That’s Coran’s Nunvill and it is the most horrible thing you’ll ever taste. Gets you drunk fast, though!”

“No thanks,” Keith said, blushing a bit. “I want to be sober tonight.”

He felt a little embarrassed saying something so bold in such a public place, but it was worth it to see Lance’s scales and eyes glow a bit. The prince glowered at him after Pidge giggled, mouthing “shiny”.

Finally, it seemed everyone was settled in and had started in on the food. Keith just picked things at random that looked good, every so often being stopped by Lance’s head shake as he explained what something tasted like and exactly why Keith wouldn’t like it. It warmed the hybrid’s heart that the prince had learned what foods he liked and didn’t like, and he squeezed Lance’s hand under the table in gratitude.

Once everyone had loaded up their plates sufficiently and had begun eating, Alfor stood up from his seat at the head of the table and hit a button on his communicator, sending a soft chime across the table. The chatter quieted down, and all eyes turned to the king.

“Welcome, everyone, to our Festival Banquet! We are so happy to have you here in our home sharing our wonderful food in honor of this special time. As you know, the Running will take place later tonight after this banquet. I would like to wish all Runners and Hunters luck with their partners, and I would like to personally congratulate my son. He has adopted a Galra companion, as I’m sure you have heard, and will finally be participating in this celebration of life.”

Lance blushed, standing up and waving to the table. Keith did the same, immediately sitting back down and practically yanking Lance back down with him. When the applause died down, Alfor continued.

“As usual, after the banquet, Runners will be asked to gather in their tent to be given their ceremonial garb and their instructions on how to operate the magic that our Druids have so kindly laid over our forest. Hunters are free to remain at the banquet and mingle, just as long as they are ready for the beginning of the Runner’s time in the forest, as well as the beginning of their time. Everyone please remember that non-consensual actions are  **strictly** forbidden, and will carry extremely serious consequences if committed. Hunters may not compete over another Runner unless that Runner consents to the competition. Further rules will be explained before the event. I sincerely hope that everyone has fun, and that you will all join us for the welcoming of the suns tomorrow morning. For now, enjoy!”

Everyone clapped before digging into their food again, and the room was once again filled with soft chatter. Keith was immeasurably grateful for Lance’s presence at his side, as there had been numerous curious parties who had approached them after Alfor’s announcement. Lance steered them away with his charm and a few deft movements, sometimes blocking them from even seeing Keith. As per Alfor’s advice, Keith stayed away from the green goo, though he did steal a small spoonful just to see what it was like. To him, it had a texture like the boxed gelatin that his father used to make when they ran out of money and craved something sweet, but this green goo wasn’t sweet. Keith made a face, reluctantly swallowing the stuff before digging back into the rest of his food (but not before receiving an approving glance from the princess in question for being brave enough to try the stuff in the first place).

Before long, the number of dishes began to dwindle as people devoured more and more of the food, and Keith began to feel stuffed. He was grateful for the buzz of people around him, as he was pretty sure he’d started purring. The suppressant was wearing off, and Keith was immensely grateful to his Galra side’s metabolism. For energy conservation, it had a great tendency to recycle food in his system as long as possible...which meant that he wouldn’t have to deal with any embarrassing...accidents during the Running.

Eventually, the food was entirely gone, and the people began to disperse around the room to chat with each other, no longer held back by their table seatings. The grand doors opened again, and everyone shuffled into the cool air to continue mingling for a little while before the preparations for the Running began. The second sun hung low in the sky, casting a soft orange glow across the Altean city. 

Lance pulled Keith outside at the back of the crowd, a non-intoxicant drink in one hand and the other around Keith’s waist. “Are you ready?

“Of course,” Keith said, kissing the prince lightly.

“Are you sure? I mean, absolutely sure? Now that we know we can actually do this, I just...I don’t want you to have any fear or anything about this.”

Keith chuckled. “I want this, Lance, I want you. Promise you’ll find me quickly?” he asked, his face the picture of innocence as he stared up at Lance.

“Holy crow, Keith, you can’t just say stuff like that,” Lance said, his eyes glowing as he dropped his face into Keith’s shoulder to hide his red cheeks. “You’re gonna kill me.”

“You’ve said worse to me!” Keith argued, laughing. “Besides, I think I’ll hear much worse from you in the forest tonight.”

He felt the growl that rumbled out of Lance at that one, shivering as it seemed to seep into his bones. “Careful, Keith. I’m in my right mind, but that doesn’t mean the festival isn’t getting to me. I might lose control if you keep this up.”

Keith turned his head so he could whisper into Lance’s pointed ear, his lips brushing the sensitive skin there. “And what if I want you to lose control? I will too. I can feel my Galra side waking up. I’ll probably transform out there in the forest, under you.”

He gasped as Lance’s fangs sunk into his shoulder, not enough to pierce the skin there but definitely enough to make his knees weak. 

“That was a warning,” the prince growled, pulling away. Keith was too aroused to giggle at the slight red tinge in his eyes. “Quit distracting me, or we won’t even make it to the Running.”

“Got it,” Keith said weakly, leaning into the prince to try to catch his breath. 

“Attention, everyone. The Running will commence soon. Runners, please give your Hunters your scent item. Then everyone please proceed to your respective start areas!” Alfor announced.

Lance pulled Keith’s wrist to his mouth and gently, deliberately,  _ delicately _ used his teeth to retrieve his bracelet, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Keith tried, but couldn’t bring himself to look away from that smoldering gaze. Obviously, Lance hadn’t been lying when he said the festival was affecting him. Keith just hadn’t known how much until he’d started teasing him. Though his rational side was telling him that it wasn’t the best idea to have done that, the Galra side of him as well as the side of him fast falling for Lance told him he should have done more.

“I’ll see you in the forest, ok?” Lance said, pressing a kiss to Keith’s wrist. “I’ve got your scent. It won’t take me long to find you.”

“Promise?” Keith asked. He couldn’t help it.

Lance’s eyes darkened, and he released Keith’s wrist, lightly shoving him towards the Runners tent. “Get in that tent now if you don’t want me to embarrass us both out here.”

Keith smirked, giving Lance a cheeky wave before he did as he was told. He slowly made his way through the crowd, eventually falling into line with people who also seemed to be heading for the Runners tent. As he entered the tent, he was directed to a small curtained-off area.

“Inside is your traditional garb. Please put it on and place your clothes in the bag provided. They will be returned to the castle,” the attendant in front of his stall said, winking.

Keith blushed. Obviously they knew who he was, and who he was about to be permanently bonded to. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the changing stall and began methodically stripping off the red outfit Lance had loved so much. He folded it as carefully as he could and placed it in the bin before turning to the traditional outfit. It looked a bit like a spandex jumpsuit, and Keith was slightly embarrassed about having to wear it until he actually put it on and was surprised by how thick the fabric actually was. Of course, it hugged the muscles Lance had so carefully built over the last few weeks of good food and training with dragons, but it wasn’t anywhere near as thin or revealing as Keith had originally assumed. Once he’d finished changing, he exited the stall, blushing and nodding to the same attendant who’d gestured him in there. He headed to the center of the tent with the rest of the Runners and sat cross-legged on one of the provided pillows. 

A stern-looking Altean walked to the podium at the front of the tent opposite the entrance, flanked on either side by hooded figures. The three stood there, waiting for the last stragglers to finish changing and join the group at the center. Keith shuddered, feeling the eyes of the hooded figures on him. Lance had shown him pictures and explained what the Druids were, but it didn’t make their appearance—or presence—any less unnerving. Once the last of the group had settled on their pillows, the Altean cleared her throat.

“Good evening, everyone. I am sure you are itching to get into the forest, but we must speak about some things first. As with every year, we have some newcomers, so let us please be patient as the rules are explained. First, as His Majesty mentioned at the banquet, consent is intrinsic to this event. If you do not consent to something a Hunter is doing, you will be able to activate the defense spells to protect yourself. In order to do this, you must speak this word: Telos. Please repeat that.”

The Runners in the room dutifully did, and the Druids nodded to the Altean as the sound faded away.

“Good. The Druids have confirmed that the spells will react to the word. Do not worry—if you are nonverbal for any reason, the spells can also pick up on emotions. If you truly do not consent to something a Hunter is doing, the spells will activate automatically to protect you. If at any time you wish to leave the forest, you need only press the communicator inside the wrist of your garb. Someone will retrieve you and return you to your current accommodations. Now, if you remain and your Hunter finds you, if you value your privacy, there is a spell to create a barrier around you and your Hunter, which will hide you both from sight and hearing of the world outside. To activate the barrier, you and your Hunter will need to say this in unison: Orieth. Repeat again.”

“Orieth”. The word echoed around the tent, and the Druids nodded again.

“Good. To dissolve the barrier, you and your Hunter simply need to say the word in unison again while touching it. Do not worry about accidentally touching the barrier—it will be large enough that you will need to purposefully be trying to touch it in order to do so. Please recall that the ceremony of the suns will happen as the suns rise, so please do try to collect yourselves before then. The garb you are wearing has been infused with quintessence, and will repair itself if you and your Hunter somehow happen to damage it.”

Keith blushed, as did many of the other Runners in the crowd.

“Now, repeat the two words again. What is the word to activate the defense spells?”

“Telos.”

“And for the barrier?”

“Orieth.”

“Good. Now, there are some rules as to the chase itself. As you know, the Running will begin when the second sun sets. That will happen in a short time, so I will be brief. Once in the forest, you will have two hours to disperse your scent. It is up to you what you choose to do—you may settle in one location to wait for your Hunter to find you, or you may continue the chase until they catch you. Either way, please make sure that you do not interfere with the chase of another pairing, unless of course you have been given permission to do so. Once your Hunter finds you, please cast your barrier, if you wish to use it, and enjoy this event. Again, please ensure that you receive consent from all partners tonight. With that, you all may leave. Please exit the tent and line up at the entrance to the forest.”

Keith stood up from his pillow, stretching his limbs. He didn’t plan at all to settle in one spot. No, he was going to make Lance work for this. His Galra side purred at the thought of a good chase, and Keith strode out of the tent with a smile as he started planning his strategy. Since this forest was right next to the palace, he and Lance had done quite a few hikes through it, so he was pretty familiar. He knew of a couple of places where he could hide, and his smile widened as he thought of the perfect place to lead Lance to for the chase. Of course, the Altean could likely use that intense speed to catch up to him the moment he entered the forest, but Keith had plans to spread his scent out enough that it would take Lance a while before he ended up at the spot he had in mind.

Keith joined the Runners gathered at the gate, his brain already plotting the best route to both throw Lance off his scent, and lead him to where Keith wanted him. 

“Is everyone ready?” The Runners all turned around to see Alfor waving from a tall stage erected between the Runner and Hunter tents. Briefly, Keith saw Lance through the poles supporting the stage, and the sight was enough to make his knees weak again. Obviously the setting of the suns had snapped Lance’s last thread, and he looked ethereal—his eyes and scales were actively glowing. He made eye contact with Keith and smirked, and Keith felt a tiny dribble of slick drip out of him.

Immediately, he whipped around, cheeks blushing a fiery red. Of course, he knew about that part of his anatomy, but...no one had ever induced that reaction before, even when his Galra side hadn’t been suppressed. Now that he thought about it, Keith could feel the transformation at the edge of his senses. His gums ached, his fangs waiting to drop. His tailbone tingled, tail twitching to grow, and his skull itched, ears ready to pop out. As the second sun sank fully below the horizon, Keith felt his eyes go yellow and slitted, night vision immediately improved. He growled, anxious for the race to start. His Galra side couldn’t wait anymore.

“Runners, please enter the forest! Hunters will follow in two hours!” With that, Alfor fired a plasma rifle into the air, the streak of light falling over the forest before fizzing out. 

Keith immediately took off, ignoring the other Runners around him as he darted into the forest, bouncing from tree to tree to spread his scent. 

* * *

Lance watched him go, quintessence buzzing beneath his skin. He thanked his ancestors that his quintessence’s influence on his senses was so powerful, because the moment he and Keith had made eye contact, Lance swore he smelled something he’d never smelled from Keith before. Something brought on by the suppressant drug wearing off…though Lance had never smelled it before, his instincts somehow knew that Keith had  _ slicked _ . The thought made his quintessence thrash beneath the surface, eager to chase after his hybrid immediately. Lance quashed it as best he could, but it still simmered beneath the surface as he watched Keith run into the forest, his silhouette immediately disappearing amidst the foliage. Lance turned back to the Hunters chatting around him, body practically vibrating with the excitement and quintessence roiling within him. 

“Damn, Lance, you’re wound tight. Are you going to be okay?” 

Lance turned to find Hunk and Pidge standing behind him.

“I’m fine. Quintessence might kill me if I don’t get into that forest soon, though.”

“I can tell,” Pidge said. “I can see it in your aura. Are you going to be able to wait two hours?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, stealing one of the pillows from just inside the Hunters’ tent and walked towards the back of the tent, setting the pillow down and sitting down on it cross-legged. “One of the first things Dad taught me to use to control my quintessence was meditation. I’m going to meditate until they call for the Hunters.”

“And you’re going to be okay for two hours?”

“Probably. I don’t think they’d be able to restrain me if I tried to get into the forest, but...part of me knows Keith is planning something, so I think the anticipation of finding out will keep me from rushing in.”

“If you say so,” Pidge said, turning around and heading back to the stage. Hunk followed suit, and Lance took a deep breath, folding his hands together and slowing his breathing, sinking into a meditative state. 

He just hoped it would be enough to contain him until that plasma rifle shot again.

* * *

Keith panted, lungs trying to catch up with the vigorous sprinting he’d been doing. For nearly two hours, he’d been running like a madman all over the forest, purposely leaving his scent in some places and masking it in others. Of course, he was respectful of the other Runners, and didn’t place any obvious scent markings near the Runners who had set up camp to wait for their Hunters. Finally, however, after dodging the others to create a wild scent trail that he knew Lance would likely navigate in less than thirty minutes, he’d settled in his spot to wait. 

Upon starting, he’d wanted a chase, but he’d realized as he ran that he didn’t want to delay this any longer. Of course, the trail through the forest was an obvious delay, but with Lance’s considerable abilities it likely wouldn’t take long for the prince to pick up on the scent and find him. Keith didn’t want to start another chase after Lance discovered him, especially knowing that the prince would catch him immediately with that speed. There was no point. So, he crouched in the trees above the spot he’d chosen and waited.

The place had caught his eye the first time he and Lance had ventured this far into the forest. It was a small clearing with a gorgeous carved stone fountain. Lance had shown him ten of them in the forest, each carved with a different species of flora or fauna native to Altea. Keith had liked the flower on this one—it reminded him of the garden store in the small town he and his dad had lived in. They always had a full display of flowers, and Keith had loved them all, especially the ones that smelled nice. The flower carved on this statue resembled a jasmine flower, which had been Keith’s favorite. 

He settled further into the branches, gripping them and wincing as his tail sprouted from the base of his spine. Though it didn’t hurt, it was certainly uncomfortable. It flicked back and forth, steadying Keith in the trees as he waited for Lance to arrive. He knew the prince would pick up on where Keith was leading him, which was why he was concealing himself. Though he wanted this to happen as soon as possible, he still wanted to give Lance a challenge. The thought excited him further, and when the plasma rifle back at the palace fired, his mouth spread wide in a fanged grin.

* * *

Lance raced into the forest, quintessence keyed up to the max. He didn’t use his Altean speed, considering there were likely people here who still weren’t aware of that, but he did push himself to the borderline. Immediately, he knew that Keith had tried to spread his scent all over to evade Lance. It didn’t work, though—Lance could sense him, both through his scent and through his quintessence. He brought his hand to his face, Keith’s bracelet wrapped around his wrist, and took a deep whiff. Immediately, the true path Keith had taken became clear, and the prince smirked as he sped deeper into the forest. He had a general idea of where he was headed, and as he passed a couple of landmarks, his grin widened. So Keith had liked that little fountain, huh? Lance would make sure he could never look at it again without blushing.

The prince ran through the forest, dodging settled Runners and the other Hunters who’d kept up with his speed, though they all splintered off as Lance headed further into the forest. Obviously, his Runner had headed the deepest, since he’d been here before and was more comfortable with the place. Lance, now knowing exactly where he was headed, didn’t even bother to follow the other trails of Keith’s scent. His quintessence had locked onto its target, and he headed in a nearly straight line right towards the clearing where he’d brought Keith the first time they’d gone so deep into the forest. Keith had remarked that the flower on the fountain reminded him of a Terran flower he’d liked when he was a child, and though it had seemed presumptive and far too early at the time, Lance mentally marked the location as a potential place to propose. 

Lance skidded to a stop in the trees. He slowly strolled into the clearing, eyes and scales glowing bright. He didn’t bother to hide them as he stalked toward the fountain. 

“Ke~ith,” he purred, scanning the area for any sign of movement. There was no sound besides the trickling of the water in the fountain, the wind in the trees, and there was no movement besides the bioluminescent leaves of everything around him moving in the wind. “I know you’re here.”

The prince took a few steps further, and a rustle sounded from a tree across the clearing. Immediately, his brightly-glowing eyes zeroed in on where the sound had come from. He took a step towards the tree, crouching down to prepare to pounce, when a rustle sounded from above him. Lance barely had time to look up before Keith was on him, having dropped from the branches above. The hybrid straddled Lance’s waist and pinned his hands above his head, smirking as the prince’s eyes widened.

“Keith, your eyes… the suppressant wore off?”

“Completely,” Keith said, slitted pupils trained on Lance’s face. His tail whipped behind him, betraying his excitement. His ears hadn’t come out yet, but he figured they would soon. 

Lance’s eyes softened. “I knew you’d be gorgeous in this form too. Want to set up the barrier here?”

Keith shook his head, lightly hopping off of Lance to stride towards the center of the clearing, nearer to the fountain. Once he reached the flattest, widest area of the clearing, he sat down and beckoned Lance to him. The prince followed him, kneeling down in front of him as he grabbed Keith’s hands and pressed them to his lips. 

“Orieth.” They both spoke, and immediately Lance felt the magic surround them. He nodded to Keith to reassure him that the barrier had indeed activated.

“Are you ready?” Lance asked, gently pushing at Keith’s shoulder to press his back towards the ground. The hybrid went willingly, smiling up at Lance from a halo of messy black hair. Even with the yellow, slitted eyes and the sharp fangs protruding from his mouth, he still managed to look angelic.

“Of course, Lance. Are you?”

“Yes,” Lance said. 

Keith’s eyes softened, and he smiled up at Lance. “Then I consent.”

“As do I,” Lance replied, and leaned down to kiss Keith the way he’d wanted to since he’d smelled that hint of slick back by the castle, elbows braced on either side of Keith’s head, careful not to pull Keith’s hair. The hybrid moaned beneath him, body arching up to the prince’s as he began to pull at Lance’s clothes.

“Already? Are you that impatient?” Lance asked, though he sat back and removed his shirt. He immediately went back to kissing Keith, relishing in the feel of those hands as they gingerly gripped his back. “Keith, darling. You don’t need to hold back. Remember when I told you that you can’t hurt me?”

“But I have claws,” Keith said, waving them in Lance’s face to prove his point. 

Lance rolled his eyes, bringing Keith’s arms back up to his shoulders and pressing the hybrid to the grass with his kisses again. He pressed his body to Keith’s, giving his hybrid a full-body grind. That was enough to convince Keith to let go of his reservations, and those claws dug into Lance’s shoulder blades. The prince moaned into the kiss, hand sliding down the side of Keith’s body before reaching his ass. He gripped the muscle tightly, causing the hybrid to mewl into the kiss, before he hiked Keith’s leg up over his own hip for a better angle to grind into him. Keith met him on the next grind, desperately gasping into Lance’s mouth at the contact. 

Though they likely could have stayed like that, the desperation of the last three weeks of waiting combined with their heightened hormones and senses from the festival put a sense of urgency to their movements. 

“How the fuck do you get this suit off?” Lance panted into Keith’s mouth, desperately grinding into him. 

“There’s-mm!-a zip, let me...” Keith reached around to try to undo the suit, and Lance immediately missed Keith’s hands on his body.

His solution was to lengthen his claws and tear the suit right from Keith’s body, zipper be damned. He cast the scraps of the suit aside, taking in Keith’s naked body with a gaze like molten metal. 

Keith couldn’t bring himself to be mad at Lance about that, not with that look in his eyes. He did still feel the need to admonish him though, even if there wasn’t any heat behind it. 

“Lance!”

“What,” Lance chuckled, leaning down to lightly bite Keith’s nipple, soothing the bite with a lick and relishing in Keith’s surprised moan, “you didn’t like it?”

Keith’s head fell back as his body pressed to Lance’s, the ministrations on his chest sinking him further into the heat coursing through his body. He pawed at Lance’s pants and the prince obeyed, removing his pants and underwear in one swift movement, casting them aside to the same place his shirt had ended up. 

_ Finally _ , Keith thought as Lance’s naked body pressed against his own. At the next sharp bite to his nipple, his hips bucked into Lance’s, and the prince moaned. He moved, trailing kisses down the hybrid’s body, biting occasionally. 

“Are you ready?” Lance asked, his face level with Keith’s dick. Immediately, Keith had a flashback from the training room, and he blushed, nodding.

“I need verbal consent again, love. Are you ready?”

“Yes, god yes Lance, please just do it!”

Lance obeyed, lips wrapping around the head of Keith’s cock as he pushed Keith’s legs over his shoulders. Keith shouted at the feeling, legs quivering around Lance’s head. The prince bobbed up and down, concentrating on making Keith feel the best he could. That wasn’t his main mission, however. The prince’s hands held Keith’s thighs up as he trailed kisses down his length, past his balls, and pressed a light kiss to his entrance. 

“I seem to remember telling you that I’d wanted to taste this part of you too. Will you let me?” the prince asked, eyes ablaze between Keith’s thighs as he waited for the hybrid to give his consent.

“Lance! Oh my god, please!” Keith sobbed.

Lance did as he was told, lightly kissing Keith’s entrance before blowing air across it. The hybrid shivered, and Lance smirked before diving back in and beginning to eat him out in earnest. He traced his tongue around the outside, willing Keith to relax. It didn’t take much, and soon Lance was able to sink his tongue into the hybrid. He groaned at the taste of the slick he’d smelled earlier, pressing his face further between Keith’s supple cheeks.

The hybrid was a mess, clawed hand threaded through Lance’s hair as the other kept the moans from escaping his lips. Lance couldn’t have that, and with a slight pause for concentration, his tongue lengthened enough to hit Keith’s prostate.

“Ah! L-Lance! Oh godddddd!” Keith wailed, back arching as his other hand flew to Lance’s hair. Lance returned to his task with renewed vigor, drawing more and more moans and cries from the hybrid as he slowly but surely stretched Keith’s hole. His own cock was straining for friction, throbbing as it rubbed against the ground. Lance groaned at a particularly hard involuntary buck of his hips and reluctantly pulled away from his ministrations.

“Keith, darling, are you ready for me to stretch you?”

Keith nodded vigorously, the tears in his eyes wobbling and threatening to fall as he spread his legs further.

“Alright, darling. Tell me if anything hurts, ok?”

“I will.”

With that, Lance retrieved the bottle of lube he’d set on the ground next to them before he’d torn his pants off. He slicked up his fingers, pressing them to Keith’s entrance. Of course he knew Keith was slicking, but he wanted to make sure that Keith felt no pain or discomfort at all, and the best way to ensure that would be to make him as wet as possible, though his body did seem to be trying to do that all on his own. Keith was practically  _ dripping _ . 

He went to swallow down Keith’s dick again, but the hybrid pulled him up by his hair to kiss him desperately, legs wrapping around Lance’s hips. Keith moaned at the taste of himself on Lance’s lips, licking into Lance’s mouth. He gasped as Lance inserted the first finger, and they both moaned when it sank in to the knuckle.

“How does it feel, darling? God, I swear you’re sucking me in.”

“Another,” Keith gasped into Lance’s mouth, rolling his hips into Lance’s long fingers. The prince added his middle finger, pressing it deep and scissoring with the other to stretch Keith as much as possible. 

By the time Lance added the third finger, Keith was a moaning, mewling mess, writhing on the forest floor. He’d long since abandoned his reservations about hurting Lance, and the prince was now sporting several long claw marks on his back.

“Keith, do you feel ready?”

Keith nodded, a sob escaping his body as Lance’s fingers brushed his prostate. “Yes, La-ah!-nce, please, oh my god.”

“Just a second, darling,” Lance said and removed his fingers. He stroked over his cock with his lubed fingers, groaning at the stimulation. It was the first time he’d been touched, having focused entirely on Keith. Once he felt he was slicked enough, he reached forward, gently pulled Keith up, and sat back, pulling the hybrid into his lap.

“Here, darling. This way you can control the speed, ok? Go as slow as you need.”

Keith nodded, biting his lip as he scooted closer to Lance. The prince pulled Keith’s hips forward, using his other hand to line up with Keith’s ass.

“Ready?”

“God yes.”

With that, Lance pressed the head of his cock to Keith’s entrance, hand still on Keith’s hips to steady him and encourage him. The hybrid slowly sank down, their foreheads pressed together as they panted from the feeling. Though Lance had told him to go slow, Keith ended up taking the last few inches all in one go, slamming himself down onto the prince’s lap and throwing his head back at the feeling, crying out to the sky.

“Ugh...K-keith, are you a-l-lright?” Lance asked, his body trembling as he tried to control his quintessence. It was roiling beneath his skin, reaching out for Keith, and urging Lance to wreck the hybrid.

Keith shuddered above him, arms still limply wrapped around Lance’s neck. He dragged the prince closer, kissing him before whispering, “please”.

Slowly, much more slowly than his quintessence wanted, Lance began to move. He started with a slow grind, and when he didn’t see any pain in Keith’s face or sense it through the bond, he started to move faster. Eventually, Keith started to move with him, pushing down into Lance’s upward thrusts. Keith shifted in his lap, obviously looking for a better angle.

The first time Lance nailed his prostate, Keith gasped, whole body shuddering. “Fuck, Lance, more!”

“What do you need, darling?” Lance asked, trying desperately to control himself.

“Don’t hold back,” Keith pleaded, pressing their foreheads together. “Do it harder.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Keith said, rocking back onto Lance’s cock to drive the point home. “Fuck me.”

Immediately, Keith found himself with his back on the forest floor. Lance stayed upright, legs folding under himself as he put a hand under Keith’s hips and hiked them up. As the prince began moving, Keith cried out, arching into it. “Ah! Lance!”

Lance snarled, his quintessence beginning to take over. His eyes and scales glowed, and though the expression on his face wasn’t exactly the kindest thing, Keith wasn’t afraid. He brought his hands up to Lance’s face, pulling the prince down for a kiss and moaning as the quintessence hit his tongue. They couldn’t hold the kiss for long, though, not with Lance’s movements and Keith moaning with every breath, and they settled for Lance tucking his face into Keith’s shoulder as the hybrid’s claws renewed the scratch marks on the prince’s back.

One particularly hard thrust to his prostate had Keith arching, eyes rolling back as he cried out. Vaguely, he felt his Galra ears pop out, and his entire body felt a sense of relief as his transformation was completed for the first time in months. 

“Keith, _mm_ , you’re gorgeous, darling. Can you look at me?”

Keith did as he was asked, opening tear-filled yellow eyes to gaze at the prince above him. Despite his past, despite everything that had happened to him, despite the fact that it had only been a few weeks since his rescue, he felt no fear. Instead, the only emotion coursing through his veins with the cresting wave of arousal was  _ love _ .

“L-ah!-Lance, it feels amazing! I love you,” Keith sobbed pulling the prince back down to his shoulder.

“I love you too,” Lance said, groaning as the angle changed just slightly. Keith was jolting with every thrust now, body tensing and relaxing as Lance nailed his prostate on every thrust.

“F-fucking sharpshooter, ah!” Keith said, body twisting as it simultaneously tried to get away from the stimulation and press into it.

“You know it, darling,” Lance said, his rhythm falling apart. “I’m-mmm-I’m close, Keith.”

“In me,” Keith gasped, tears of overstimulation running down his face. “I-inside, please.”

Whatever reply Lance had to that, it was lost as the words combined with Keith’s wrecked appearance brought his orgasm crashing down. He shouted, eyes and scales glowing the brightest they had all night, as he finally, at last completed the bond with his hybrid. Lance’s vision whited out as his cock pulsed, releasing everything he had into Keith’s willing, waiting body.

As Lance’s vision returned, the sight that awaited him made his cock twitch in interest from where it was still tucked inside Keith’s body. The hybrid’s back was arched, body practically vibrating, as he gasped for air. His eyes were rolled back and his stomach had been painted white from where he’d come, untouched, just from the raw feeling of  _ finally _ having Lance’s quintessence inside him. His hands, which had retreated from Lance’s back sometime while Lance had been...indisposed, were twitching above his head. His cock was also twitching, and Lance watched in awe as a dribble of cum slowly made its way to join the mess on Keith’s stomach. 

Lance pulled out gently, not wanting to hurt Keith if he was sensitive. He could feel the hybrid’s emotions even better now, and all he was feeling from Keith was contentment. Still, though, he had to be sure.

“Keith? Baby? Are you alright?”

Keith’s body slowly eased out of the painful-looking arch, his eyes fluttering as he relaxed. 

“Keith?”

The hybrid’s hands reached for Lance’s face, and Lance went willingly as Keith pulled him down for a soft kiss. When Lance pulled back, the hybrid was looking up at him, eyes soft. “I’m more than alright. I feel amazing.”

“No pain? No headache or anything?”

“No, Lance. My hips are a little sore, and I feel kind of buzzed from your quintessence, but it’s nothing. You were amazing.  _ We _ were amazing. God, we could have been doing that the whole time?”

Lance laughed, gathering the hybrid in his arms and lifting him up. “I know. Now I’m never going to let you leave our bed.”

Keith smirked, pressing a kiss to Lance’s jaw. “Promise?”

The prince growled. “Don’t get me excited again, you little shit. I need to wash us up.”

With that, he carried Keith to the fountain, which had thankfully been enclosed in the privacy dome. He washed the hybrid gently, cleaning the cum off of his stomach and gently washing around Keith’s ass, not wanting to aggravate the oversensitive nerves. Then, Lance climbed into the fountain to give himself a quick rinse before he climbed out, blasting his quintessence around them both to dry off. He carried Keith back towards where they’d made love, carefully setting him down away from the obvious wet spot in the soft grass. The prince then sat down next to the hybrid, laying down on the grass.

Keith laid down on Lance’s chest, snuggling into him as the prince’s arm wrapped around his body.

“So, how was your first time?” Keith asked, unable to help from teasing. “Was it everything you wanted?”

“Of course,” Lance said, kissing the top of Keith’s head. “I only ever wanted it to happen with someone I loved. I’m glad it was you.”

Keith pushed himself up to kiss Lance’s lips, smiling softly at him before he snuggled back into his chest. “Me too. I mean, I wasn’t a virgin, but I’m glad my first time after being healed was with you. In fact, from now on, I want it to only be with you.”

“Same here,” Lance said. “For eternity, I hope?”

“Yes, Lance,” Keith replied. “For eternity. I want you to make me immortal as soon as possible. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Lance’s arms tightened around him. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Keith replied, tail swishing happily.

Lance laughed. “You’re purring.”

Keith blushed, nipping Lance’s chest in retaliation. “I can’t help it! It’s a natural response when I’m happy.”

Lance cooed at him, scratching behind Keith’s ears and laughing as the purring got louder. “Your Galra form is gorgeous. I could see your features starting to change when the Running started, but I had no idea what it would look like. I’m glad I could see it.”

“You didn’t keep your promise, by the way,” Keith said, propping himself up to look at Lance.

“Hmm? Which one?”

“You said you’d bite me. The bond is finalized now, since you gave me your quintessence, but I still want the Galra version of it. I want to be your mate.”

Keith shivered as Lance’s eyes darkened, the quintessence starting to seep back into the ocean-blue of his irises. Lance grinned, the look on his face pinning the Keith in place as the hybrid watched, wide-eyed, as Lance’s canines elongated to the same length as Keith’s. 

In a flash, the prince switched their positions to where he was looming over Keith once again. The hybrid spread his legs, and Lance settled between him like he belonged there—which, Keith reasoned as a blush spread across his face, he really did. 

“How do you want it?”

“Visible,” Keith answered immediately. “Traditionally it’s done at the nape of the neck, but...I don’t think I’m ready for anything from behind. I hope that’s ok.”

Lance leaned down and kissed him, hands gently caressing Keith’s sides. “Don’t ever apologize for your trauma. It’s not your fault. I’m perfectly happy to bite you anywhere you want.”

Keith purred, tail thumping against the ground. Lance kissed down his jaw and neck, pausing on a spot near where the hybrid’s neck met his shoulder when Keith shivered against him. “Here, darling?”

Keith nodded, hands keeping Lance’s face pressed into his neck. “Please. I want to be yours.”

With that Lance sunk his teeth in, shuddering as Keith keened, high and needy, into the air of the clearing. He began to squirm beneath Lance, and the prince had to plant his knees on either side of Keith’s thighs to keep him still. Once the hybrid calmed down, Lance removed his teeth from Keith’s neck and watched in awe as the residual quintessence from his saliva healed the mark until it formed a perfect, round scar on Keith’s neck.

Lance looked down at the hybrid to make sure he was okay and immediately felt himself become aroused again at the sight. Keith was panting, hips squirming above where Lance’s knees had trapped his thighs, cock hard and throbbing against his stomach. The smell of slick wafted up to the prince, and he grinned predatorily, rearranging their bodies so that Keith’s legs were spread wide with Lance between them.

“Want to go again, darling?”

“Please!”

* * *

They made love two more times right there on the forest floor, Lance bringing Keith to the fountain and gently washing him after each time. By the last time they were both so exhausted from the Running and then the sex, that they put their ceremonial clothes (which had stitched themselves together after the rough treatment) back on, snuggled together on the forest floor, and fell asleep. The castle had an alarm similar to the one from the banquet, so they would at least get a few hours of sleep before the ceremony of the suns. Keith had fallen asleep relatively quickly, and Lance had followed after spending a few minutes just gazing at the hybrid’s face, wondering how on Altea he got so lucky. 

The next morning, the alarm went off, and Keith groaned as awareness slowly seeped into his mind. His hips were pleasantly sore, and he was grateful for Lance’s healing powers—without them, he likely wouldn’t be able to walk to the ceremony. He turned over to find the prince gazing at him, expression so open and eyes so full of love that Keith couldn’t help but kiss him.

“Good morning, darling. Sleep well?”

“Of course,” Keith said. “I always do next to you. How much time do we have before the ceremony?”

Lance laughed. “Why, want to go again?”

Keith blushed, slapping the prince’s chest. “No! I was just wondering if we had enough time to go back to the castle to change.”

“No, we’re supposed to still be wearing our traditional outfits for the ceremony. It doesn’t last long, though—we just all gather together and watch the first sun rise, then we have a huge breakfast until the second sun rises. After that, we can go change.”

“I thought you’d never participated in this before?” Keith asked as the prince helped him up. He stretched, the soreness in his hips making him blush as his chest rumbled in contentment. Thankfully he’d reverted to his human form in his sleep, though it seemed the purring wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“The welcoming of the suns is something everyone participates in, even if they don’t do the Running. The Running is the official kickoff of the fertility side of the festival, while the ceremony of suns the morning after is to welcome new life. Then, the festival continues for the rest of the week. We then have a ceremony at the end of the week to honor any of the new pairings, as well as those who have participated in the Running before. It’s not super complicated—just a quick thing where the Druids bless our relationship. It’s public, but it’s over super quickly,” Lance explained as they walked to the side of the dome. 

“Orieth”, they said in unison. The spell faded away, and Keith smiled as Lance took his hand and they began to walk back towards the castle.

“So it’s like a marriage thing?”

“Kinda. It’s mostly for show, but basically it’s supposed to confirm that you’re compatible and that the Druids approve of you spending the rest of your lives together. It’s a little more complicated than that because I’m royalty. I can’t have children with you, but I’m not the first in line so it’s not really a big deal. Plus, we live forever, so Allura doesn’t have to have any kids until Dad decides he wants to step down, and I don’t think  _ that _ will happen anytime soon.”

Keith laughed. “So, when will you make me immortal?”

“When you’re 20,” Lance said. “Your brain and body will still develop at a normal pace afterwards, at least until you reach maturity, but I want to make sure you’re as close to that point as possible. Besides, I don’t think my quintessence will let me wait any longer than that. In fact, I’ll probably end up turning you on your birthday. It’s during the Terran month of October, correct?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “But I haven’t been keeping track of time on Terra very well. I just know I’m 18 because my old master celebrated my birthday with me a few months before Sendak took me.”

“We’re coming up on your 19th, actually,” Lance said. “I think it’s about September on Terra right now.”

“Lance?” Keith asked. “Can I ask a favor?”

“Always,” Lance replied. 

“Can we go back to Terra for my birthday? I’d like to find out what happened to my dad.”

“Of course,” Lance said, kissing the hybrid’s head. “With the teludav it shouldn’t take us very long to get there. I’ll tell Dad after the ceremony so he can get ahold of Coran and plan the trip for us. Do you want Pidge and Hunk to come with us, or would you like it to be just us?”

“Just us,” Keith said, snuggling into Lance’s side as they walked, hand in hand.

“We’ll celebrate your birthday on Terra then, as well,” Lance said. “And I’ll buy you a timer to count down to your 20th, so you don’t have to worry about tracking the time on Terra.”

“Thank you,” Keith said. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

With that, they spent the rest of their walk in silence, birdsong starting to fill the trees as pale light began to filter through the forest. They occasionally came across the other couples, and Keith was grateful that everyone seemed to mind their own business. A few congratulated Lance and Keith on their bond, but no invasive questions were asked, and no one tried to touch either of them. They eventually ran into Shiro and Allura who immediately began teasing Lance, and they stayed together as they reached the castle. Lance led Keith after Shiro and Allura as they headed to the raised stage, which was now cluttered with pillows similar to those that had been in the Running tent. Lance and Keith settled down on two of the pillows, Allura and Shiro next to them. Hunk and Pidge joined shortly after, both yawning. 

“Why are you two tired? I guarantee you got way more sleep than I did,” Lance teased. Keith elbowed him, face bright red.

“I was working on that new robot all night,” Pidge replied, shrugging as she settled onto a pillow next to Shiro. 

“I was providing moral support and coffee,” Hunk added, taking the pillow next to Pidge. “We were both up working on that thing almost all night. We got it to work though!”

“I named it Rover,” Pidge said, smiling. 

“Congratulations,” Keith said. 

Pidge’s easy smile deepened into a smirk. “I see you two were busy. Is that a bonding bite?”

Keith’s hand slapped onto his neck, blushing bright. Lance wasn’t faring much better next to him, hand tightening around Keith’s.

Allura perked up at that. “You two bonded that way as well? Congratulations! I take it Keith was able to transform, then? It wouldn’t have taken if he wasn’t in Galra form.”

Keith nodded. He blushed an even deeper red as his traitorous body started purring from the memories of Lance biting him.

“Are you purring? Oh, Keith!” Keith looked up, alarmed, as Allura’s eyes began to fill with tears. She gently grabbed Keith’s hands, smiling at him despite the tears.

“Allura? What’s wrong?” Lance asked, concerned.

“Nothing, I’m just happy. I never thought that anything good could come out of those horrible auctions, but I’m so glad I dragged Lance to that one. You’ve recovered so much, Keith. Did you know that Galra only purr if they feel completely safe? The fact that you can do so surrounded by us just makes me so happy,” the princess said, sniffling. Shiro wrapped his non-prosthetic arm around her, beaming at Keith.

“Congratulations, Keith. You’ve been a part of it since you arrived, but again, welcome to the family.”

“Welcome, Keith,” Hunk said, smiling warmly even as his eyes filled with tears. He wiped them away, glaring as Lance giggled. “I’m a sympathy crier, ok?”

“Welcome,” Pidge said. “I hope you’re ready to put up with our shit for eternity.”

Keith laughed, feeling his own eyes water a bit. He looked over to Lance, who was gazing at him like he’d hung the moons in the sky. 

“I’m so in love with you,” Lance said, eyes shining with quintessence and tears. “I’m so glad I found you, and I’m glad I was able to spend this Running with you. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift I’ve ever received.” With that, he pressed his lips to Keith’s, and there wasn’t a dry eye on the platform.

“Glad to see everything has turned out alright,” came Alfor’s voice from the steps as he and Coran joined them on the platform. He chose a pillow at Pidge’s side, leaving the pillow between himself and Lance for Coran.

Everyone around the circle wiped their eyes, laughing as they did it in unison.

“Synchronized, even when we’re not on the dragons,” Lance joked.

They all settled down, watching as Alfor smiled at them all before rising from his seat. He waved to the Druids, who were gathered off to the side, before he turned to the crowd, gathered on their own pillows beneath the stage.

“Good morning, everyone! I hope that everyone enjoyed the Running! I am extremely pleased to report that none of the consent spells were activated last night, intentionally or accidentally. You cannot know how proud it makes me as king to see my people embracing the spirit of love, respect, and unity that the fertility festival encourages. I hope that the next Running will be the same. As you know, we will meditate here in silence as the first sun rises. Once it has done so, you may all mingle and congratulate one another if you wish. We will meet in the castle banquet hall for a meal, which will end when the second sun rises. With that, the festival will officially begin! I encourage everyone to support our small merchants here on Altea and visit the market, as well as the special festival events. Then, at the end of the week, we shall see you all back here for the conclusion event. With that, let us meditate as we welcome our sun!”

With that, Alfor returned to his pillow. Without any verbal prompting, the Paladins reached out and grasped each other’s hands in the circle. Lance squeezed Keith’s hand, leaning over to kiss him before settling into a meditation pose. They all closed their eyes and let their minds go blank, and Keith could see why they did this as the first sun rose and bathed him in its warmth. With his eyes closed and one hand in Lance’s, the other in Allura’s, he felt as though the love of the people around him was surrounding him, blanketing him in warm contentment. Keith couldn’t even find it in himself to be embarrassed as he started purring from the feeling, and he felt Lance’s love and amusement through the bond as the prince squeezed his hand. 

Before long, it was over, and the Druids rang a gong to signify that the first sun was fully over the horizon. Keith slowly opened his eyes, smiling at the others in the circle. They all squeezed each other’s hands before the circle was broken and everyone rose, ready for the breakfast banquet. Lance kept a hold of Keith’s hand, however, and Keith was perfectly okay with that as they walked towards the castle. The crowd around them was respectful, the occasional person gently patting Lance on the shoulder and congratulating him. None of them interacted with Keith beyond a warm smile and another wish of congratulations, and he was perfectly okay with that. He snuggled into Lance’s side as they entered the castle, the enormous table set up in the middle of the dining hall again. Lance and Keith assumed their seats from the previous night and Keith’s eyes widened as he noticed a platter of scrambled eggs and bacon coming out of the kitchen.

“Is that…?”

Lance glanced over to where Keith was looking and laughed. “We have Terrans who participate in the Running with their Altean mates. They came to Allura a few Runnings back and asked if she and Shiro agreed that we should have some Terran food here in addition to the traditional Altean dishes, as well as some of the dishes from other planets. Allura agreed, and ever since, scrambled eggs and bacon have been a staple at the post-Running breakfast. You want some?”

Keith nodded, mouth watering. Lance waved the person carrying the food over before they could set the food on the conveyor belt. “Hey, we’ll start that here if that’s ok?”

The servant smiled and set the food on the table between the prince and the hybrid. “Of course, your Majesty. Anything else?” 

“No, that’s it, thank you!”

With that, the servant bowed and left to rejoin the kitchen staff, who were also hefting large platters of scrambled eggs and bacon. Lance took the serving spoon off the platter and hefted a healthy portion of scrambled eggs onto Keith’s plate as well as his own. He then grabbed the tongs and put a generous helping of bacon on both of their plates as well. The platter was then passed around the head of the table as each member of Lance’s family as well as Hunk and Pidge helped themselves. Before long, the platter was empty and a member of the kitchen staff retrieved it.

Keith dug into the scrambled eggs, letting out a quiet moan at the perfect fluffy texture. Lance laughed. “Enjoying yourself?”

Keith nodded, mouth too full to respond verbally. He chewed and swallowed, then grabbed a piece of bacon. His eyes closed in satisfaction at the flavor of it. Both breakfast items were hitting the spot after his late night and early morning, and Keith made a decision right then and there. 

“Lance?” he asked once he’d swallowed his food.

“Yes, darling?”

“After this can we go take a nap?”

“Of course,” Lance said, chuckling. “To be honest, that was the plan anyway.”

“Sounds good to me,” Keith said. “Can we leave whenever?”

“Yeah,” Lance replied. “We’ll finish what’s on our plates and head out.”

They did just that (though Keith snagged a couple pieces of bacon for the walk back to their quarters), and before they knew it they were back in their room. Keith didn’t care anymore, and the second Lance closed the door behind them he stripped off his Runner’s outfit, pulled on the pajamas he’d discarded yesterday morning, and collapsed face first onto his pillow, groaning in contentment. Lance laughed, following Keith’s example and donning his pajamas as well. He gently laid down next to the hybrid and wrapped his arm around Keith’s waist. The hybrid turned over so he was facing Lance and snuggled into the prince’s chest, rumbling happily.

“So, was it a good first time?” Lance asked.

Keith pulled his head from Lance’s chest to glare up at him. “Of course it was, Lance, you made me come without even touching me. Part of that may have been due to your quintessence, but it wasn’t the whole reason, trust me.”

Lance blushed, kissing Keith on the forehead. “I know. I’m just insecure, you know? It was amazing for me, and I wanted to make sure you felt the same.”

“It was incredible, Lance,” Keith replied. “Don’t worry about it. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have jumped you the second time, and I wouldn’t be thinking right now about how I want to do it again...after we take a nap.” With that, he snuggled back into Lance’s chest.

Lance laughed. “Of course, darling. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now sleep, you kept me up way too late.”

Lance chuckled again and waved, using his extremely happy quintessence to close the curtains and dim the lights in the room. If it was going to be trilling and bouncing in happiness inside of him because he and Keith had finally consummated their bond, he might as well put it to work. Once it was dark in the room, Lance kissed the top of Keith’s head again before relaxing into the pillows, letting his tired eyes drift closed.

Lance was content, and truly happy for the first time in a long time. Of course, his mood had vastly improved since Keith's arrival, but this time, the contentment was bone deep. He felt like he'd never stop smiling. As the prince drifted off to sleep, memories of the previous night as well as the cremony that morning playing on repeat through his head, Lance was happy to say, for once, that he couldn’t wait for what tomorrow would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was worth the wait! It's nearly the size of the other two chapters combined, so I hope it was enough to satiate your need for continuation. As for continuing this work, I'm going to try to do it in a sort of disconnected epilogue style. The first will be Keith and Lance's visit to Earth to find out what happened to Keith's dad, and to celebrate Keith's 19th birthday. The second epilogue will be when Lance makes Keith immortal. After that...I'm not really sure! I didn't have many ideas for this fic beyond the Running and the sex scene, so Keith asking Lance to come to Earth with him kind of came out of nowhere from my brain. If you have any plot bunnies or things you'd like to see, please let me know in the comments! It may very well get written into the story because I don't have many ideas myself beyond the immortality ceremony. I could also write about the three week time skip between chapter 2 and 3 if anyone wants to see that!
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments! Though I have no idea when I'll manage to write the continuations of this story, having people comment that they want to see them will certainly help my motivation!

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if you noticed any grammar mistakes! My work is un-beta'd, so any and all mistakes are my own. If you would, please drop some kudos and maybe a comment. The encouragement from you guys makes the best motivation to keep writing!
> 
> Also, if you have any suggestions for more tags for this work, please let me know! As it's been so long since I last published anything, I'm not great at tagging stuff anymore. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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